Fitness tracker maker, Fitbit is confident of India featuring among its top 5 markets globally in next 1-2 years, helped by strong uptake of health monitoring devices by the young population and a booming smartphone industry.
Fitbit, which sold its bands in India through online marketplace Amazon.In, today said it will expand into the offline market in partnership with Croma, Helios and Reliance Retail.
"People across the world are becoming more conscious about the need to lead a healthier life, a trend that is true for India as well. Youngsters here are tech-savvy, the smartphone market is booming, we see a lot of potential here," Fitbit Chief Revenue Officer Woody Scal told PTI.
India has the potential to be among the top 5 market for Fitbit in 1-2 years, he added.
He, however, declined to comment on expected sales from the Indian market.
Fitbit has seven products available in India, priced between Rs 3,990 to Rs 19,990.
The US-based firm sold 4.5 million connected health and fitness devices in the second quarter of 2015, raking in USD 400.41 million in revenues.
It said its international revenue had increased 250 per cent, year-over-year for the second quarter of 2015, driven by Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific revenue growth of 301 per cent and 292 per cent, respectively.
In India, Fitbit is now aggressively looking at expanding its presence.
"In the US, we are the market leader and we would want to see the same in India. We are investing in enhancing localised content, building awareness around health and strengthening partnerships," he said, adding that the firm will actively use social and digital media.
In India, Fitbit is partnering actors Shraddha Kapoor and Tiger Shroff as well as world's number one badminton player, Saina Nehwal as ambassadors for its everyday, active and performance range of products.
Fitbit competes with the likes of Goqii, JawBone and other fitness trackers from companies like Nike.
According to research firm Gartner, the global wearable electronic devices for fitness shipments are forecast to reach 91.3 million units in 2016 from 73.01 million units in 2013.
