Abstracts Category : Other

The future of smartwatches : a case on the current status and expected category evolution on the Portuguese market

by Sara Cristina Melo

The introduction of new technologies and development of tools that facilitate everyday consumers life is part of the reality we are living. And whereas some innovations might be of slighter importance and distinctiveness, others might imply a significant change in the consumer behaviour, totally redefining the marketplace expectations. On the latter, and considering its high level of uncertainty, consumer acceptance plays a key role that companies must be aware of and consider in their strategy, in order to mitigate any barriers it might bring.The aim of this dissertation is to provide insights on how is the smartwatches category evolving in the Portuguese market and how is it possible to leverage its growth, by assessing in detail the current status of the market globally and locally, as well as retrieving insightful quantitative data on Portuguese consumer preferences towards this category.The methodology used concerns qualitative data retrieved from group interviews to 3 smartwatch owners and 4 non-owners, as well as quantitative data obtained through a survey conveyed to 258 valid respondents. All supported with an extensive literature review on both diffusion of innovation theory, as well as smartwatch definition, update on current status and foreseen evolution.The main findings suggest that, currently, smartwatches are at the chasm stage of the product lifecycle with a need of developing strategies to cross from the early adopter to the mainstream market. These same strategies are proposed in this dissertation, taking as base both literature insights as well as consumer quantitative contribution. A introduo de novas tecnologias e desenvolvimento de ferramentas facilitadoras do dia-a-dia do consumidor fazem parte da realidade atual. E enquanto algumas inovaes podem ser de menor importncia ou distino, outras implicam uma mudana significativa do comportamento do consumidor, redefinindo totalmente as expectativas do mercado. No ltimo caso, e considerando o seu alto nvel de incerteza, a aceitao do consumidor desempenha um papel-chave para as empresas, devendo consider-la na sua estratgia e mitigar potenciais barreiras que possa trazer.O objetivo desta dissertao assim, proporcionar conhecimento na evoluo da categoria de smartwatches em Portugal assim como entender de que forma alavancar o seu crescimento, ao analisar em detalhe o estado atual do mercado global e local, recolhendo dados quantitativos relevantes das preferncias do consumidor Portugus relativas categoria.A metodologia utilizada inclui dados qualitativos recolhidos atravs de entrevistas de grupo a 3 detentores de smartwatch e 4 no-detentores, assim como dados quantitativos recolhidos num inqurito distribudo a 258 inquiridos vlidos. Suportado por uma extensiva reviso bibliogrfica sobre teoria da difuso de inovao, assim como na definio e descrio do estado atual do mercado de smartwatches e sua expectvel evoluo.As principais concluses sugerem que atualmente os smartwatches se encontram na fase de chasm doAdvisors/Committee Members: Crispim, Nuno.