PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Mark Needham discuses the recent success of Fitbit One and where wearable technology is selling…
Fashion and retail headhunter Moira Benigson writes a well informed blog on what is new in retail.
Last week, her first paragraph talked about “the recent influx of healthy living wristbands adorning the arms of the fashion- and fitness-conscious,” so I settled down to read with the complacent glow of someone who already knows the subject.
I was, however, jolted out of my complacency by Moira’s comment that “Jawbone and Nike seem to have cornered the wearable tech market for now.”
As Widget is the main UK distributor for Fitbit, I know how well the Fitbit Ultra and One have sold and that the new Fitbit Flex is showing every sign of being an absolute barnstormer of a product.
Nike has a fantastic brand behind their product and have used the PR potential of the Fuelband to the max. At one point they had a whole unit in trendy Box Park, Shoreditch dedicated to the product. But most people in the UK do not shop in Shoreditch. If you look in real stores, online or in retail parks, it is Fitbit which is selling.
Last week, the Fitbit One won the iOS Accessory of the Year in the MacWorld awards. The award is recognition of how well Fitbit has been doing in the UK market, and it seems it cannot come too soon.
Mark Needham is the founder of Widget UK Ltd, www.widget.co.uk, a specialist distributor of consumer electronics.
