UK study highlights key trends in wearables

The latest wave of results from Clicked Research Agency’s Wearable Technology Tracker show some surprising trends.

UK digital research specialist Clicked has released headline findings from their bi-annual tracker, revealing consumer adoption of the category.

The research is based on 3,000 interviews with a nationally representative sample of the UK population. Core headlines:

• Ownership of wearables has doubled in the past 12 months to 12% of the UK population.
  • Activity Trackers and Smartwatches penetration has doubled, but growth of GPS Sportwatches has stalled.
  • Female ownership and interest is rising, but falling for males.
  • Over half of owners are under 35, although this is falling, with growth now coming from the 55+ age group.
  • Apple has invigorated the Smartwatch category, with Apple now the #1 UK smartwatch brand.
  • There is a seasonal impact of wearable usage with spring and summer creating higher usage occasions.
  • Users are feeling less motivated by Activity Trackers than in the past.
  • 32% of all wearable devices that are no longer used, stopped being used within the first month of acquiring them.

Steve Mellor, MD of Clicked:

“12% of the UK own a wearable device, that’s around 6M people. It’s no longer a niche category and owners are no longer new adopters. However, there is a strong seasonal effect on usage – simply put, they are used more frequently when people are outside the home and that tends to be in the warmer months”.

“The trend is in female ownership. The health and lifestyle benefits remain a core purchase driver for females, but the improved appearance of devices has also impacted on purchasing”.

“The biggest problem for manufacturers in the category is not privacy or security, it is lapsed usage. We see a very high percentage of owners using devices for a short time and then leaving them in the drawer. There is no one reason for this – we have identified many different scenarios that manufacturers need to react to”.

For more details on the research, go to http://www.clicked-research.co.uk/