When considering Wearable Technology, apart from product design and functionality issues, the key questions for purchasers in relation to commercial success are:
- Who will buy these products/services?
- Why will they buy?
- What will they buy?
- When will they buy?
For these types of questions, traditional technology analysis of early/late adopters does not cope very well. Essentially, the one-size-fits-all technology product model does not work in the fashion industry. Because style or fashion is key to many Wearable Technology products, the innovative report from Beecham Research and Wearable Technologies Group introduces a new methodology based on fashion industry user profiles.
For example, type F1 (Ana) represents young, urban women, with confident style and midrange spending habits. She is 18-35 and shares or cohabits, with only herself to spend on. She is very aware of trends and buys to express individual style and promote social standing. She is confident in her choices, and very likely to promote to peers. She is generally an early adopter and likely to invest in key purchases each season, but where cost is more prohibitive, and dependant on product appeal, she will be early majority. Some Wearable Technology applications will be of particular appeal to her, but not all of them.
