Garmin Focuses on Specialized Smartwatches for Women and Kids

Garmin (GRMN), a renowned creator of recreation and fitness wearables, is carving out lucrative spaces within the consumer electronics market, targeting specific niches. The company showcased its diverse range of smartwatches at CES 2024, tailoring them to a variety of audiences, including sports enthusiasts, women, and children. In contrast to Apple’s approach of treating its Apple Watch as a computing platform, Garmin, based in Olathe, Kansas, prioritizes style and specific functionalities when crafting its smartwatches.

One highlight at CES 2024 was Garmin’s promotion of the Lily 2 series smartwatches, characterized by their petite and fashionable design, coupled with health, wellness, and connectivity features. These wearables boast up to five days of battery life in smartwatch mode, featuring new elements such as sleep score, dance fitness activities, and Garmin Pay contactless payments. Offering fitness tracking, body energy monitoring, connected GPS, and workout apps, the Lily 2 series starts at $249.99.

Garmin’s smartwatch lineup at CES included models designed for kids, runners, swimmers, golfers, divers, and adventure seekers. Audra Ratliff, Associate Director of Product Marketing at Garmin, emphasized the company’s rejection of a one-size-fits-all approach to smartwatches. Reflecting on the industry’s past tendency to merely shrink and pink men’s watches for women, Garmin saw an opportunity to cater to women’s unique needs and preferences.

In addition to the Lily 2 series, Garmin introduced the HRM-Fit, a heart-rate monitor designed for women. This device attaches directly to sports bras, capturing crucial training metrics accurately. Priced at $149.99, the HRM-Fit complements Garmin’s commitment to providing specialized solutions.

Garmin stock currently leads in IBD’s Consumer Electronics industry group, with an impressive IBD Composite Rating of 86 out of 99. Recently finding support at its 50-day moving average line following a broader tech stock sell-off, Garmin stock rose by 0.5% to close at 123.85 on the stock market.