Waterproof, not Cellular, Might be the Killer Feature for Wearables

I just came back from a holiday in Cancun where, as you can imagine, most of my activities were in the water or close to it. While a non-waterproof Apple Watch is an annoyance as I do occasionally swim, during my holiday I really came to dislike it was not waterproof. For most of my week, I missed my calories and stand up goals despite being active more than I usually am when working. If your main reason for buying a wearable is to track your fitness (our data points on this remain the key purchase driver), you would certainly start to feel your investment was not worthwhile.

Earlier this month, GWI published a study on fitness fanatics – people who like to exercise more than 4 times a week and have a strong interest in health and fitness. Across the 34 markets they cover, this group represented 14% of their panel of internet users. Among these fitness fanatics, 28% are in the Apple Watch’s sweet spot of 25-34 years old. By country, the numbers become even more interesting as that 14% goes up and down quite significantly: US 17%, India 29%, China and UK 10%, Australia 13%. Outside of exercise, the top sport practiced by this group is swimming with 33% of the fitness fanatics mentioning it as something they do regularly. Cycling came second at 32%.

GWI found fitness fanatics tend to be active and adventurous, with a strong interest in travel and exploring new places. 77% are interested in other cultures and countries, while a similar figure say they like to explore the world around them. It comes as no surprise this group likes to travel: 56% have a vacation at home bi-annually, while 4 in 10 travel abroad at least once a year (putting them 20% ahead of the average).

This group has already invested in wearables with an above average attach rate: 16% own a smartwatch and another 16% own a fitness band. Fitness fanatics also show higher than average engagement in social media and, as to be expected, in fitness and health apps.

All these data points show a segment ready for wearables who will be highly engaged and likely to want to keep up with technology advancements by refreshing what they own fairly regularly.

The combination of the high interest in swimming and the higher propensity to travel along with the likely interest in keeping up with activity targets make waterproof and general robustness of wearables key attributes for these users. Capturing 14% of the market would start to make all players, from vendors to developers, more positive about the long-term potential of the segment.

Fitness fanatics aside, though, I argue my personal experience shows that, even for mainstream users who just want to keep an eye on their activity level when on holiday, these features matter. You might think that a week or two of holiday a year is not a big deal but I have one concern — abandonment rate. Considering most consumers are finding these devices a “nice to have” object, not wearing their smartwatch for a week or two in a row would certainly increase abandonment rates — a risk vendors cannot afford.