One in two U.S. adults plans to purchase at least one health and wellness digital health technology product to gift during the winter 2024 holiday season, according to the 2024 Consumer Technology Holiday Purchase Patterns study served up by CTA, the Consumer Technology Association — aka the annual host of CES. Specifically, 41% of givers are looking to buy a dedicated health monitoring device, and 31% a product covering connected sports or fitness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For this annual study, CTA conducted an online survey among 1,205 U.S. adults 18 and over in August-September 2024 to gauge consumers’ plans for tech-gift shopping for the 2024 holiday season.

CTA assessed U.S. consumers’ view on technology gifts in two ways: as recipient and giver:

  • The topic-wished-for tech gifts were laptops or notebook computers, up to first place from second in 2023, followed by tablets at #2 (#5 in 2023), smartphones in third place (first in 2023), wearables at #4 (#3 last year), and gaming consoles in fifth position (#6 last year)
  • The top holiday gift list items among givers for tech were wireless headphones and ear buds at the top of the list, followed by portable chargers/power banks, mobile device cases, wireless charging docs, smartphones, video subscription services, tablets, gaming consoles, smartwatches, and in tenth place laptops (among one-half of givers), All these ten categories garnered at least 50% of tech-givers responding to the survey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The CTA report delves into many consumer-facing tech categories: I will focus on my wheelhouse here for health-medical technology. In this study, it’s wearables like smartwatches and fitness trackers, smart rings, video subscriptions, remote health monitors, and connected fitness that show up for consumer tech-givers in 2024.

The smart ring category was added into this study in 2024, with fast growth among tech-gifters: this year, 33% of those surveyed were planning to purchase a smart ring as a gift. (I’ll have a full-post write-up on smart rings during #CES2025, so do stay tuned for that update on this quick-growth category for self-care).

Smartwatches have supplanted a portion of dedicated wristworn fitness trackers over the past few years, as the smartwatch category has integrated more sensors and apps related to health, medical, fitness, and wellness metrics for self-care — a growing category I’ll be immersed in at the upcoming #CES2025.

 

 

 

 

 

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  Please check back on Health Populi on Friday 20th December for my annual 2025 Health Populi TrendCast, featuring what’s on my mind for health+tech+people for 2025….and again on the 27th for my #CES2025 preview of consumer-facing health technology announcements, trends, and insights I expect to explore in Las Vegas at the CES, consumer electronics show, the week of 6th January 2025.

One of my favorite work-flows at CES each year is participating in the Digital Health Summit which convenes innovators and industry experts covering the latest developments at the convergence of consumers and patients, caregivers, technology, and the home. I’m so looking forward to participating on a panel on Thursday 9 December at 11 am covering Health at Home: Where Health Meets Smart Living, brainstorming with leaders from ResMed, Samsung Electronics, Withings, and the Digital Medicine Society. If you’re attending #CES2025, please come join us and let’s meet up!