While the Fossil Group's entry into the world of smartwatches has largely focused around fashion, it looks like the company is ready to shift to a more sporty approach with its connected timepieces.
In the Q&A section of its Q1 2019 earnings call, Kosta Karsotis, chairman and chief executive at Fossil Group, was responding to a question regarding the performance of its Kors brand when he revealed that it would begin to offer Michael Kors smartwatches that are more focused on keeping active.
Wareable verdict: Michael Kors Access Sofie Heart Rate review
"In wearables, we've got more platforms coming this year than last year and one of them is a sport version, health and wellness oriented," Karsotis said. "It could be a game changer in the wearables business; so new function and features and we'll be talking more about that later in the year, it could be good."
That move to sportier models seems to be driven by the popularity of the Fossil Sport, which launched at the back end of 2018. The move would see Fossil bring its ranges closer in line with its rivals like the Apple Watch, Samsung's Galaxy Watch and Fitbit's smartwatches.
"We've largely been focused on fashion SKU's, metal, I think metal, leather, just -- we've done really big business off that, said Greg McKelvey, Fossil Group's chief commercial and strategy officer.
Essential reading: Best smartwatches for women
"But Fossil Sport right out of the gate has done incredibly well, we couldn't keep it in stock and we're going to be driving that sport platform with silicon, lighter weight materials, latest tech across several brands as we go through the year. So that's just a significant addressable market that we really weren't going after before."
Other interesting insights into the company's move in the smartwatch space included the strong performance of its Michael Kors Access Runway smartwatch, the follow-up to the Michael Kors Sofie.
"The Runway platform that we launched, we really bet everything on one platform which was a bit minimalist, and we believe we've moved a little bit away from the jet set and true runway appeal that the customer, the Michael Kors customer, knows," said McKelvey.
Verdict: Michael Kors Access Lexington 2 review
"We've got multiple proven platforms coming back in that are much more consistent with what their customer expects. We just launched, 25 April, the Sofie product which was a huge success when it launched a year and a half ago, and we've got more coming in the fall."
So, while there was a decline for its connected business in the first quarter of the year, it seems Fossil Group is not letting up with its smartwatch push and we'll have more devices to try before the year is out.
Via: The Motley Fool
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.