Luxury Portable Consumer Electronics in Singapore

2020 IMPACT

Lockdown and home seclusion reduces demand for dominant luxury wearables in 2020

Luxury portable consumer electronics is a niche category within luxury goods in Singapore, which had been experiencing mixed results over the review period prior to the pandemic; these products had continued to compete with mass brands which offered increasingly innovative technology at more affordable prices. Luxury wearables dominates overall in both retail volume and value sales and had experienced an upturn in demand in 2019, benefiting from rising health and wellness trends and increasing interest in athleisure whilst being driven by the desire to display one’s social status with high-end smart watches.

Pandemic exacerbates declining trend for luxury mobile phones with the category increasingly competing with technologically-advanced mainstream brands

The emergence of the pandemic only served to exacerbate an already declining trend experienced by luxury mobile phones in Singapore, with waning demand for this category driven by strong competition from mainstream alternative smartphones which have continued to develop their technology at more affordable price points. Moreover, the category had already seen the exit of former dominant leader Vertu in 2017, due to lack of interest, making it difficult to sustain commercial value, particularly as consumers could no longer justify the higher prices as these products were no longer perceived to offer a similar social status symbol compared to luxury timepieces, for instance.

Leading brands under increasing pressure from newer launches with sophisticated features

Following Vertu’s exit from luxury portable consumer electronics in Singapore, Hermès International SCA consolidated its leading position of the category pre-pandemic, due to its affiliation with Apple, where it offers the Apple Hermès iWatch brand. Porsche Design GmbH on the other hand, had continued to suffer from value share decline in 2019.

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