Streaming media players and smartwatches will be among the most sought after gifts this Holiday season, according to researchers at Parks Associates, cited by Recode.net. And if you take a look at where the market stands today, we’ll have a series of great products to choose from this winter.
According to the market research company, the likely cause of this trend is Apple’s launch of the Apple Watch, that has raised awareness about wearable devices, raising the sales of smartwatches and fitness trackers in the US. The company expects the sales of these devices to exceed 11 million in the US only by the end of the year – more than double compared to the number of wearables sold last year. The tendency of retailers to “ride the bandwagon” will also contribute to the raising sales of these devices, due to the high number of special offers and promotions around Black Friday. Worldwide the company expects over 18 million units to be sold this year, generating a revenue of $5 billion, and the sales to continue to rise over the next few years, up to a total of 121 million units by 2018.
Another product category that will be highly sought for this holiday season will be streaming media players. According to surveys conducted by Parks Associates, over 25% of the people interviewed have already purchased one of these devices – set top boxes like Roku 3 or Apple TV, or streaming media sticks like Google’s Chromecast – with the intention of offering them as gifts to their friends or relatives. Among the preferences of holiday shoppers we can also find gaming consoles – over 20% of the respondents intent to buy such a gadget as a present – followed by tablet computers, e-book readers, digital video recording devices or internet-connectable music players.
The complete forecast can be read at the Parks Associates website.