Smart watch sales grew five times, but are now declining: Titan CEO Suparna Mitra
The Indian market of 130 million watches per year is witnessing a silent change. While smart watches have seen a phenomenal increase in sales, analog watches have not lost their luster and are also moving forward, with a strong focus on premiumization.
Efforts are also being made to make smart watches resemble analogs. Suparna Mitra, CEO of Watches and Wearables Division at Titan Company Ltd, said, “Over the last four years, the average selling price of analogue watches has increased by around 10 percent across our brands (Titan’s entry-level watches start from Rs 2,000 ). That’s why we launched the Titan Stellar Collection last Diwali. And we made a watch called the Meteorite, with a piece of a 120,000-year-old meteorite on the dial. Coincidentally, it was also priced at Rs 120,000 and sold very well.
Titan also has the Nebula range of watches that sell for as much as Rs 8-10 lakh each. Moreover, it has just launched an entry-level luxury brand, the Swiss-made Charriol, priced at over Rs 1.2 lakh, which will be marketed through Helios, the company’s multi-brand stores.
Mitra points out that Titan has seen a slow but subtle change in women’s purchasing behavior. Over the past seven years, the share of women’s watches has increased from 40 percent to 45 percent of the Indian analog watch market as more and more women can now buy watches for themselves.
While Mitra acknowledges that smart watches have seen phenomenal growth over the past four years, he says this is now slowing, as reflected in Q1 2024 figures. “The smart watch market, which has been largely affordable, rose from 10 million units in 2019 to 50 million last year – a fivefold increase (Titan had an 8 percent share of this market last year).
However, their overall average sales price has fallen over the past six months and the industry is awaiting consolidation.”
She says smart watches are riding the fitness wave that emerged after the pandemic as people prioritized their health. So, watches with fitness tracking, step tracking, heart rate, SpO2, sleep, and so on became popular.
But at the same time, analog watches have also grown in a comfortable way. Although sales fell during the Covid-19 outbreak, revenge was taken as the pandemic subsided, Mitra added.
“Our estimates show that the analog watch market has increased from 65-68 million units per year in 2018 to approximately 75-80 million today. And we expect growth to move more toward value than numbers due to premiumization,” she says.
Titan has seen healthy double-digit growth in analogue watches in FY23 and FY24 and the trend is set to continue, even though the premium segment may see higher growth than the others.
However, Mitra believes that the smart and analog watch markets are not comparable. “Consumer research has shown that analog watches are about who you are, while wearables are about what you do. Smart watches are functional (for example, they track your health), but analog watches are about aesthetics, accessories, style, status and self-expression,” she says.
Some attempts are now being made to bring the two segments together. While wearing both types on two wrists is already a style statement, Mitra says efforts are now underway to make smart watches look more like analog watches and Titan is working on that too.
– The smart watch market grew five times in four years, but is now slowing down. Expect consolidation in the sector
– Attempts are being made to design smart watches like analog watches
First print: June 20, 2024 | 1:07 am IST