IXD302 – Pitch – The Untapped Wearable Market – Article Review

The kid’s smartwatch market is beginning to take off through incentives such as health/fitness monitors, mood/sleep monitors and GPS trackers. Parents are also benefiting from these incentives as it gives them peace of mind and informs them about their child’s activities.

Gap Intelligence published a great and interesting article by Karen Hartzman titled ‘Kids Wearables – An Untapped Market’ which comments on the lack of wearables targeted towards children.

Hartzman highlights that although the wearables market is increasing in popularity and demand year after year, only approximately 1% of over 2400 products are targeted towards children. Similarly, just three wearables with the target audience of children were promoted on Gap Intelligence in 2018. These figures reveal that there is just a small fraction of wearables targeted to children, and those that do are not being promoted to the same extent as those towards adults.

Why target wearables to kids?

There are a number of key benefits, such as safety, building good and healthy habits, fitness, and potentially reducing the rising obesity rates among children.

Types of Wearables Targeted to Kids:

Fitness tracking – This is a common type of wearable that tracks steps taken in a day. The Vivofit Jr. from Garmin is arguably the most well-known. Though they collect the same metrics as those targeted towards adults, the difference comes in how they communicate with children. Wearables like the Vivofit Jr. come in a variety of bright colours and themes, such as Disney or Batman, and contains features children would find fun and interesting, such as daily challenges and activities.

GPS tracking – Although aimed at kids, these types of wearables offer parents peace of mind on their child’s location as they begin to take more independence. In addition, this type of wearable also offers receiving and making calls to a select number of contacts, such as to parents or carers.

Task tracking – This type of wearable is suitable for task tracking that, for example, sends children reminders to finish homework, or helps them learn how to tell time. An example of this type of wearable is the Octopus by JOY.

Hartzman also conducted a survey with mothers to determine if purchasing a wearable for their child was something they were interested in. Of those polled, 90% said either their child already owned a wearable, or they would consider buying one.

It’s worth noting that most of the mothers stated they’d be most interested in a watch that combined fitness monitoring with GPS tracking. However, there are currently no products on the market that provide both. This reveals a significant gap in the wearables industry, that if tapped into, could provide significant benefits for children and parents alike.

Articles used:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/08/05/2275900/0/en/Kids-Smartwatch-Market-to-Garner-USD-1-002-4-Million-by-2025-at-a-14-76-CAGR-Report-by-Market-Research-Future-MRFR.html

https://www.gapintelligence.com/blog/kids-wearables-an-untapped-market/?fbclid=IwAR2WABt_tUN8UBo45j5Xyp2WUp8v2UzUCkzkwL64KaFGexT62SlYudm0U0E 

 

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