A closeup of Oura’s Gen3 Horizon ring and its sensors.
Oura
Oura will now sell its smart rings on Amazon, its latest retail expansion as the health and wellness wearable space continues to grow.
Starting Thursday, Oura can have its full number of rings and accessories available to U.S. shoppers on Amazon through its own brand store. It would even have sizing kits on the market, helping customers find the proper fit after which providing them with a reduced price equivalent to the fee of the sizing kit.
Oura’s recent e-commerce approach with Amazon builds on the partnership it announced with Best Buy last yr to give the corporate its first U.S.-based large scale retail opportunity. Previously, the corporate largely sold its products directly to consumers through its website.
“Amazon is a natural step for us,” said Oura chief marketing officer Doug Sweeny. “It’s an unlimited ecosystem and when it comes to product reviews and search, it’s really vital.”
Sweeny, who joined Oura in October 2022, said the corporate has had success with word-of-mouth marketing and when consumers discovered the product at retail locations. Moving onto Amazon’s platform, Sweeny said it has worked with the e-commerce company to ensure there may be “education, experience and storytelling in regards to the product and the advantages.”
While that doesn’t suggest an enormous change from Oura’s existing marketing approach, Sweeny said the two-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company recognizes that having its products on Amazon opens it up to “a really, very wide demographic of people that want to be proactive and interesting with their health.”
The move also comes as Oura faces a recent challenge from Samsung within the smart ring category, as well as other wearables adding more health advantages.
The Galaxy Ring, Samsung’s latest wearable, is predicted to launch this yr with health-tracking features including heart rate and sleep monitoring while also giving users a rating of their readiness for the day.
Apple has also been adding more health features to its Watch series, while Garmin has continued to see growth as more consumers search out more ways to track exercises and their fitness levels.
Amazon had been among the many competitors directly within the device space targeting people’s wrists, fingers and other body parts. However the market, while value billions, has seen a shakeout in recent times. Amazon discontinued its Halo wearable in April of last yr, citing a crowded segment, amongst other reasons. Early wearables leader Fitbit was acquired by Google years ago and integrated by Alphabet right into a Google Pixel Watch.
Oura has separated itself from other wearables previously with a heavy emphasis on sleep-related data. Nevertheless, the corporate has expanded well beyond that in recent times into other biometrics. The rings are equipped with research-grade sensors to track all the pieces from heart rate to temperature to sleep cycles. That data is then analyzed to provide insights regarding activities and exercise, stress levels and overall health status.
A couple of million Oura rings have been sold to date, according to Oura. The corporate has raised greater than $148 million in total, reaching a $2.55 billion valuation in April 2022.
Having Oura rings on Amazon will help the corporate higher educate consumers in regards to the product and the health advantages of tracking these metrics, as well as why a ring-based wearable compared to those which can be worn on the wrist is preferable, Sweeny said.
As for Samsung’s potential entry right into a ring, Sweeny said Oura is viewing it “as a positive thing.”
“It is a validation of the category,” he said. “We’re very relentless on the experience side to really create the very best product, but we welcome Samsung into the category and ultimately we see it as a extremely symbolic point in our time.”