The Micromax trap: Why Noise, Fire-Boltt, boAt, and Boult need smart manoeuvres

livemint.com:

avoid the fate of Micromax? Why is the Indian consumer suddenly falling out of love with smartwatches? The one-word answer is fatigue. The focus on one’s health in the aftermath of the pandemic saw a large part of the population take to an active lifestyle. Smartwatches that helped measure your daily calorie burn, step count, heart rate monitor and sleep pattern analysis, became a much sought-after accessory.

A smartwatch can do much more than an old-fashioned analog watch but there was one major irritant—just like any other electrical gadget it needed to be charged. Even as most of these watches would last nearly a week of use, a number of customers found charging it even once a week to be tedious. The burn out is among the highest for any gadget in the industry.

Around 10% of the customers stop wearing the watch within a month of purchase. It swells to nearly 22% within three months, one of the wearables companies Mint spoke to stated.“The replacement cycle in smartwatches is unlike any other electronic gadget. The number of users who quit is higher.

Lot of them get bored very quickly and never come back for another watch. It was a fad whose peak is behind us and we need to adjust to the new reality," said Varun Gupta, co-founder, Boult.The industry is also facing stiff competition from numerous nondescript firms that have flooded the market in smaller towns with cheaper knock offs—for as low as ₹700—of more premium brands.The number of such unknown companies has shot up from 70 in 2021 to over 130 in 2024. Their combined share has also gone up from 3% in 2020 to over 15% last year, data from Counterpoint Research stated.