Why Asia and Europe are still an untapped market opportunity for digital women’s health vendors, in contrast to the USA

The adoption rate of digital women’s health solutions, such as Clue, Glow or Ovia, has exceeded 20% of the addressable market in the USA. In contrast, fertility trackers or pregnancy solutions have so far hardly been used in Asian countries. Market entry options in those markets and selected EU countries might be better due to lower competition levels and favorable regulatory changes.

The market for digital women’s health solutions refers to the software, diagnostics, products and services that leverage technology to address specific women’s health issues and improve women’s health. Such companies as Health & Parenting (Pregnancy +), Glow, BabyCenter or Flo Health have gained significant user bases within their female target audience worldwide.

In the USA every fifth woman with a capable device (such as a smartphone) is currently using a digital health solution to manage fertility, pregnancy or the first months of childhood. Digital health solutions are also used to assist women in major gynecological and obstetrical diseases, such as pelvic problems and breast cancer, as well as to manage menopause symptoms.

Adoption rates differ significantly around the globe. The USA market clearly stands out with the adoption rate exceeding 20% of women of reproductive and menopausal age. The gap to the next group of countries, including France, UK, Russia, Brazil and Mexico, is wide. In those countries adoption rate varies between 5% and 10% of the addressable market. On the other hand, India and China represent a group of countries where only few women make use of digital tools yet.

Competition level, measured as a market share of non-top 10 players in the downloads, as well as the number of available solutions also vary from country to country (Source: The Global Market of Digital Women’s Health Solutions 2017-2024).

In China, a handful of providers of digital women’s solutions, such as BabyTree and Flo Health, capture most of the current market share. The Chinese market offers a rather low competition level with fewer than 700 companies active. At the same time, China is the largest addressable market (220M) for digital women’s health solutions globally (the same applies to many other Asian markets). There is still plenty of room for new digital women’s health solutions to capture this untapped market potential in China.

In contrast, entering the US market is becoming more and more difficult as early adopters have made their choice by selecting one of more than 2,000 digital health solutions available (offered by more than 1,600 active vendors). Period Tracker (Flo Health), Pregnancy + (Health & Parenting) and Pregnancy Tracker (Baby Center) have currently the largest female user base. Still there are a few dozen other relevant offerings in the USA market. As a result, the competition level here is one of the highest globally.

This is even more true for digital solutions which track period and ovulation cycles. Since last year Apple has been providing pre-installed fertility tracking services on the iPhone and Apple Watch. This means that Asian markets still offer good market entry options. In Europe, on the other hand, country selection is key. The German market stands out more because of changes in the regulation, which will improve market entry opportunities for digital women’s health solutions significantly.

“The Global Digital Women’s Health Solutions Market 2017-2024” is a newly published market report, covering current status, trends, strategies of key market players, business models and providing the five-year forecast.

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