Tag: wearable devices

Wearables are gaining ground with eBay

Wearable devices may be the next big thing for eBay. The company has reported that it has seen a major increase in sales following the launch of its first application for the Apple Watch, a new device released by Apple at the end of April. The device has managed to attract a great deal of interest, especially those that have shown favor for mobile commerce, which involves the purchase of products with a mobile device, both online and in physical stores.

Growing number of consumers are showing interest in wearable devices as mobile commerce continues to thrive

eBay has played a major role in the e-commerce world for many years, but the company is beginning to show a greater interest in the mobile space. The growing number of consumers with smartphones has provided eBay, as well as other retailers, with a promising opportunity. Mobile commerce has become a significant force in the world of commerce and many companies are beginning to become mobile-centric in order to cater to the needs of consumers that are interested in mobile shopping.

50% of eBay shoppers purchased from the technology category in 2014

According to the report from eBay, more than 50% of its customers bought products in the technology category in 2014. Wearable devices are included in this category and a large portion of shoppers purchased these devices through the e-commerce platform. These devices appear to be particularly popular in Australia, where consumers have become enthralled with the convenient nature of these devices and their ability to perform in the mobile commerce space.

Wearable devices could have a major impact on the growth of mobile commerce

Not all wearable devices are designed with mobile commerce in mind. Some of these devices are developed for the purpose of tracking health information or connecting to social networks. A growing number of these devices are cropping up with the ability to facilitate mobile shopping. In Australia, these devices are becoming more common, which is giving a greater number of consumers the ability to participate in the mobile commerce space.

An International Data Corporation (IDC) report has identified the top shipper of wearables during the quarter.

The IDC has now released its “Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker” report, which identified the number of wearable technology devices that were shipped in Q1 of this year, saying that there were 11.4 million of these gadgets.

This marks a tremendous raise over the wearables from the same quarter last year, which was 3.8 million.

That represents a tremendous growth of 200 percent when it comes to the shipments of wearable technology. Moreover, the report also indicated that this growth in the industry appears to be relatively steady. Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers senior research analyst, Jitesh Ubrani, explained that “As with any young market, price erosion has been quite drastic. We now see over 40% of the devices priced under $100, and that’s one reason why the top 5 vendors have been able to grow their dominance from two thirds of the market in the first quarter of last year to three quarters this quarter.”

That said, wearable technology’s growth does not appear to be dependent on dropping prices.

The entrance of Apple with its Watch that is priced at a higher level has shown that there is some consumer interest in paying more in order to receive a product from a premium brand or one that is currently in the spotlight. What will be interesting is whether or not that consumer interest actually continues or if this represents a novelty that will wear off after a period of time.

The IDC report also pointed out that it was Fitbit that took the top spot in terms of its share of the wearable tech market. The data in the report indicated that the company was holding onto a hefty 34.2 percent of the total global wearables market.

During the first quarter of this year, Fitbit, alone, shipped 3.9 million of its devices. In second place was Xiaomi, which shipped a strong but notably lower 2.8 million units. Garmin and Samsung took the third and fourth spots on the list, respectively. The fifth place was grabbed onto by Jawbone.