PRESS INFORMATION

Favorite gifts: The European wearables market continues to grow

Wearables are intelligent devices worn somewhere on your body, and their market in Europe is growing strongly. They are an especially popular Christmas gift.

The organizer of the IFA trade show, gfu Consumer & Home Electronics GmbH, expects the number of wearables sold in the German market to grow by 20 percent this year alone, reaching almost five million devices. Sales are predicted to increase by 24 percent to around 850 million euros. In the first three quarters of 2019, the wearables market showed a significant increase of 41 percent over the sales during the same period in 2018, reaching 601 million euros.

The wearables market segment covers a range of products including as smart watches (without a SIM), smart glasses (also without a SIM), health & fitness trackers, wrist sport computers, connected watches, and locators. Their innovative and intelligent features help consumers improve their health, fitness and sleep quality. In many cases, connection to smart home hubs and voice control features are already integrated. Some devices even support streaming services to provide entertainment, for example, while you are working out. More powerful processors and better displays offer rich functionality, and the battery life for these devices is constantly increasing. High-quality materials ensure that wearables are chic accessories

The wearables market has shown to be very successful throughout Europe. In 2019, market analysts expect sales of 3.3 billion euros (+ 26%) and around 21.5 billion wearable devices (+ 26%). According to current forecasts, growth will continue next year, albeit at a slower pace. The European market should increase in 2020 to 22.5 billion wearables sold (+ 4%) for just under 3.5 billion euros (+ 6%). According to the predictions, sales in Germany will be weaker in 2020 than in 2019, but stronger than those in the European market as a whole: 5.4 million devices (+ 9.5%) with an overall sales figure of around 955 million euros (+ 13%).

Hans-Joachim Kamp, Chairman of the gfu supervisory board, explains, “The growth of the young wearables market impressively shows how consumers welcome products that add value to their lives. There is still a lot of potential as the market penetration in Germany stands at under 10 percent. After their double-digit initial growth rates, wearables have matured into a respectable market category and will soon reach the billion-euro yearly sales mark in Germany. Their attractiveness as gifts underscores our forecast for the 2019 Christmas sales where we anticipate around 1.3 million devices sold for just shy of 250 million euros.”