Industry analyst GfK has announced that 2014 marked the first increase in watch sales by volume in five years.
The growth, of 1.3%, represents 126,000 more watches sold in 2014 over sales in 2013. It also marks the first reported volume increase since GfK began measuring the UK wristwatch market in 2010.
Jonathan Hedges, account director for watches at GfK, details the growth in the February issue of WatchPro, saying: “At the height of the decline, volume sales were down in 2013 by 1.8m units when compared against 2010, but I am delighted to report an increase in the number of watches sold in 2014 by 126,000 units when compared against the low of 2013.”
The growth in volume is also supported by continuing growth in sales value, which was up a healthy 7.7% year-on-year in 2014. This has resulted in the highest average watch selling price that GfK has ever reported, £128.
Hedges’ article for WatchPro also points to the sub £500 market growing at a pace that the luxury market can’t match particularly driven by sales in the fashion watch market.
Read the full article from GfK’s Jonathan Hedges in the February issue of WatchPro.
