Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

With the recent entry of key industry players like Apple into the wearables sector, the demand for these devices has risen. So much so that YouGov estimates that there will be 6.1 million wearable device owners in the UK by the end of 2015 and Juniper research says that global retail revenue from wearable devices will have reached $53.2bn (£34.9bn) by 2019. Of this, smart watches are expected to replace fitness devices as the most purchased wearables category by 2017.

With more and more consumers expected to purchase smart watches in coming years, these devices have the potential to become ‘consumer companions’ comparable to the smartphone. As a result, they provide brands with the ability to get, very literally, closer to their target customers.

The data collected by wearables will give marketers a unique understanding of audience behaviour on an individual level. For example, marketers will be able to identify where a user has been and the interactions they have had, as told by their geo-location data and the apps they have connected to. This will be invaluable for marketers in learning how to better target consumers, particularly if they can understand wearables within the context of other devices used in the wider purchase journey....