Garmin bullish on Indian luxury wearable market

New Delhi, April 21: Bullish on the Indian luxury smart watches market, US-based wearable major Garmin is set to introduce its super premium 'MARQ' line-up of smartwatches in the third quarter of 2019.

Smart watches grew 54.3 per cent and accounted for 29.8 per cent of all wearable device shipments in 2018, says a recent report by the International Data Corporation (IDC).

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the worldwide market for wearable devices grew 31.4 per cent, reaching a new high of 59.3 million units.

New products from players like Garmin, Fitbit and Huawei helped the basic wearables category return to growth during the third quarter of 2018.

"Garmin will soon come up with a new product called "MARQ" which is in the ultra-premium category. The price range of these will be close to Rs 2 lakh. After witnessing our growth last year, we see that India has a great potential in all price categories," Ali Rizvi, National Sales Manager-Garmin India, told IANS.

The Kansas-headquartered company, which also produces consumer, professional aviation and marine devices that make use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for navigational assistance, would unveil five watch variants in the luxury segment.

The five variants in the "MARQ" line-up would include the Garmin MARQ Driver, MARQ Aviator, MARQ Captain, MARQ Expedition and MARQ Athlete.

The company, which also provides GPS solutions to the Indian Army, said it would introduce the smart watches after all the government regulations are met with.

"We are following the government norms which are required to import the products, such as getting a BIS certificate," Rizvi stressed.

According to CyberMedia Research (CMR), Garmin will see tough competition from luxe brands including the likes of Tag Heuer, Brietling and Omega. However, aspirational users are likely to drive its sales in the country.

"With rising affluence in the country, the market is now home to aspirational customers who seek premium, uber-luxe devices. This breed of customers care about their appearances, and are willing to spend more on luxury brands," Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, told IANS.

Garmin has been synonymous with wearables and fitness trackers.

"With the "MARQ", Garmin has taken a bold stab at the uber-luxe smartwatch segment. Each of the specific activity-focused smartwatch will find favour with the tech-savvy and fitness-conscious upwardly mobile Indians," added Ram.

The wearable major is also working towards strengthening its service support network in India.

"We've invested in a service centre in the country. This is to ensure that all the products we are launching in 2019 have a strong backup for service support as well as extended warranty," Rizvi said.