The launch of the Apple Watch earlier this year appears to have undermined the market for conventional watches in the US, judging from figures released today by NPD Group. The month of June saw national watch sales decline further than at any time since 2008.
The data made public by the market research firm includes that $375 million of watches were sold in June. This is 11% lower than in June 2014 – and Fred Levin, who heads NPD’s luxury division, told Bloomberg that the Apple Watch “is going to gain a significant amount of penetration”, adding that he expects struggles in the next two years for “watches in fashion categories.”
Levin said that Apple’s timepiece poses an especially large threat to the market for watches costing under $1,000. Indeed, according to NPD, many watches with price tags of between $50 and $999 were sold in smaller number in June. Nonetheless, it remains hard to precisely judge to what extent traditional watch markets in the US have been affected by the Apple Watch, as Apple has not publicly specified how many units of the smartwatch it has sold.
