Global Running Day: How Budget Smartwatches Are Becoming A Part Of Life For Health Watchers

The pandemic played a role in shifting consumer awareness about fitness and it led them to switch to smartwatches and activity trackers. Here's how affordable smartwatches have become an integral part of life for health watchers.

People who took up running during coronavirus pandemic intend to maintain their passion for this exercise. Representative image: Krishna SinhaChaudhury/ABP Live

New Delhi: A lot of people took up running during the coronavirus pandemic and most of them intend to maintain their passion for running. Bappi, a communications professional who got severely infected with Covid-19 during the second wave last year says he is motivated enough to continue his newfound passion for running in the future. He relies on an affordable smartwatch and his pair of TWS earbuds to complete 10K run each day. Like him, 24-year-old Bhoomika discovered her love for running when she was battling anxiety and trying to control her blood pressure. She depends on her smartwatch to track her daily sleep and workouts which helped her in building stamina and leading an active lifestyle. And we are talking about running because today (June 1) is Global Running Day and it is marked every year on the first Wednesday of June.

Focus on fitness post Covid-19 pandemic pushed Indians towards smartwatches

The pandemic played a pivotal role in shifting consumer awareness about fitness and health and it led them to switch to smartwatches and activity trackers from traditional wristwatches. Running is different from many participation sports, and according to findings published last year by Nielsen, the official research and intelligence supplier to World Athletics, runners across the world increased their participation and the health benefits they gain from it. In fact, focus on fitness drove Indians to smartwatches and so much so that the market saw record growth of over 274 per cent YoY in 2021 shipments, dominated by homegrown brands Noise, Boat and Fire Bollt that manufacture affordable smartwatches, according to Counterpoint Research.

How affordable smartwatches have become a part of life

The focus on fitness spurred Indians to smartwatches and trackers from Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities as they now have informed buyers who are aware of the latest technological advancement, according to Dizo, the first brand under the Realme TechLife umbrella. Talking to ABP Live on Global Running Day, Abhilash Panda, CEO, Dizo India said apart from launching an affordable line of smartwatches, the brand is working hard towards promoting fitness by providing interactive solutions. "We are learning on the job and trying to understand consumers’ behaviour to provide more interactive solutions to keep them motivated. One use case is that you get notifications as soon as you complete your targets and you can customise and set bigger goals when you conquer the previous ones. Our smartwatches and the DIZO App are continuously interacting with users to push them towards building a healthy regime," Panda told ABP Live. 

The key to running or taking up any sport is making sure one has the right gear. As per Xiaomi, which makes reliable and affordable smartwatches and activity trackers, the pandemic gave a big push to the adoption of wearables. "The tracking, monitoring and analysis of health data have become an integral component for the rising tech-savvy and price sensitive population and that has encouraged people to take up running seriously," Raghu Reddy , CBO, Xiaomi India, told ABP Live.

Homegrown brand Noise, which led the India smartwatch market with 27 per cent share in 2021 also said that it working towards building an entire health ecosystem and community for its users. "We encourage our users to follow a health regime through activities via our NoiseFit app, and we are trying to build an entire health ecosystem for them," noted Amit Khatri, Co-founder, Noise.

Vikas Jain, CEO and Co-founder of another homegrown wearables maker Play said: "We use our advanced sensor technology and an in-house application that allows the users get in-depth and accurate health tracking. This increases their health-related awareness and also encourages them."

Creating a preventive healthcare ecosystem

According to healthcare wearable maker Goqii, preventive healthcare is the only viable, long-term and mass-market solution for health watchers. The Menlo Park, California-headquartered company's new range of Smart Vital Wearables is approved by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare as a class-B medical device and all data generated by these devices is acceptable for clinical needs.

"Our wearable comes with Goqii’s advanced health ecosystem and a care team that includes a personal coach, health experts, doctors and diagnostics. It brings the user's health data to a single platform from which it can be analysed by the care team to predict health outcomes. This allows for the user to receive personalised health advice as per their lifestyle and habits," said Vishal Gondal, CEO and Founder, Goqii.