2021 Of The Sweeping Robot Market: The Back Wave Is Surging, The Front Wave Has A Headache

In a blink of an eye, 2021 is drawing to a close, and 2022 is approaching. Looking back on the past year, it is destined to be an extraordinary year, especially for the sweeping robot industry. Many major events have occurred in 2021, which will have a profound impact on the industry. Today we will take stock and comment.

Technology changes life, sweeping robots gather at CES2021

On January 11, CES 2021 officially opened. Affected by the epidemic, this year's CES exhibition will be conducted online and offline. Judging from the new product sweeping robots released by major manufacturers, there are still bright spots to be found. For example, Samsung’s JetBot AI Plus robot vacuum cleaner, Bot Care personal assistant robot, and Bot Handy robot brought by Samsung at this year’s CES show can clean up messy things and move things around the house; Roborock S7, the Roborock sweeping robot on display, Equipped with a large suction power of 2500 Pa and a large battery of 5200mAh, it can be used for up to 3 hours in the "quiet" mode and low water flow mop settings; Baole exhibited AI home sweeping robots and automatic dust collection base stations, these two new products are at the level of intelligence Excellent performance in cleaning and cleaning ability.

Comment: The CSE exhibition is regarded as a weather vane of technological development in the industry. In the mobile robot exhibits, in addition to sweeping robots, LG has also launched its CLOi ultraviolet disinfection robot, disinfection robot Coro-bot and companion robot. It can be seen that in the field of mobile robots, in addition to cleaning robots, they have begun to not stick to certain specific forms of presentation. From industry to commerce, the antennae of mobile robots have extended to all aspects.

From the new products exhibited by Samsung, Rock and Baole, it can be seen that the sweeping robot has breakthroughs in cleaning power, intelligence and object recognition technology. Unfortunately, these brands did not "ignite" the market with new products this year. In the future, with the maturity of various technologies such as sensors, AI, big data, and 5G, the industrial chain of sweeping robots may explode with strong vitality.

iRobot releases Roomba i series, dust collector sweeping machine is getting hot

On February 25th, the American home robot company iRobot released Roomba®i3+/i4+ vacuum cleaners in China. The new product adopts intelligent planning and navigation, and is equipped with the Clean base™ automatic dust collection system that can dispose of garbage independently, bringing users a rich and personalized cleaning experience provided by the iRobot Genius™ home smart platform.

Comment: iRobot was a US military enterprise in its early years. In 2002, iRobot launched the Roomba sweeping robot, creating a new category of household cleaning robots. In 2021, iRobot will launch a dust collector sweeper in the Chinese market, which can be said to be an innovation of the company's products. But in the domestic sweeping robot industry, dust collector sweepers are no longer new at this time. Brands including Prosonic, Xiaomi, Stone, Zhuimi, Cobos and Midea have all launched such products.

In terms of technology, the automatic dust collector sweeper has a dual duct dust collection, a rear suction dust collection and a consumable dust collection bucket design. These products do not require consumers to dump the garbage in the dust box of the sweeping robot. Every time the user cleans the ground with the automatic dust collector and sweeper, the automatic dust collector charging base can automatically empty the dust in the dust box of the sweeping robot, without the user's manual cleaning intervention, which further liberates both hands. Regrettably, this year, even with iRobot blessing the track, this kind of products did not cause splashes in the market. They are in a state of "high product popularity but low sales".

Cobos shareholders liquidation type reduction, behind it is thought-provoking

On July 13, Cobos disclosed the shareholder reduction plan. The first shareholder Taiyike Electric Co., Ltd. intends to reduce its holdings by 10,279,616 shares through centralized bidding transactions and block transactions. It is expected that the reduction will not exceed 1.80% of the company's total share capital. Not long after the major shareholders liquidated their holdings, on July 23, Cobos opened for a dive, and within half an hour was tightly sealed on the limit. The market value evaporated 12.1 billion yuan from the previous day and 34.4 billion yuan from the highest point. Many people in the industry lament that as the original shareholder of Cobos, the reasons behind the continued reduction in holdings of Taiyikai are thought-provoking.

Comment: In fact, it is not the first time that Taiyike has reduced its shareholding in Cobos. In 2019, Taiyike has begun to gradually reduce its holdings. This reduction has caused too much movement and attracted the attention of many stakeholders. Under normal circumstances, there may be two reasons for major shareholders to reduce their holdings. One is the need for funds, and the other is their lack of confidence in the company's future development, and they hope to cash out and stop losses. In the A-share environment, the reduction of long positions is also regarded by some investors as "cutting leeks." According to the announcement, the reason for Taiyike's plan to reduce its holdings is "own capital needs", but "funding needs" and "profit-taking" are not contradictory.

Judging from the several reductions by Cobos shareholders, it is not ruled out that it is due to financial considerations. After all, Cobos' stock price has risen from an early ten billion to a market value of more than 100 billion. Shareholders want to cash out. Judging from the recent financial report released by Cobos, its investment in marketing costs is higher than that in research and development. Many people in the industry complain that Cobos' R&D investment does not meet the title of a technology company, and its R&D investment accounts for only the lowest line of internationally accepted standards.

In recent years, Cobos has made a series of adjustments, including gradually withdrawing from the original service robot foundry business and withdrawing from the domestic low-end sweeping robot market. This has affected its revenue and net profit growth to a certain extent.

Cobos's clean small household appliances, in addition to sweeping robots, window cleaners (so far, they have not contributed to the company's profits), there are also washing machines (sub-brand Timke). In the first half of 2021, the Tianke brand achieved sales revenue of 2.037 billion yuan, accounting for 38.01% of Cobos' total revenue; net profit of 410 million yuan, accounting for 48% of Cobos' total profit. During the 618 e-commerce festival, Timco achieved sales of 900 million yuan, and the two-year-old Tianyi became famous and became a strong support force for Cobos' profitability.

In the foreign robot vacuum market, Cobos's road to sea has not been smooth sailing. For example, in the North American market, according to public statistics, although Cobos strives to catch up with brands such as iRobot and Shark, there is still a gap compared with Shark's share; and in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) market, Roborock Voss made an earlier layout, and Covos's market share is behind.

Cobos has also introduced many new sweepers in recent years, but no explosive products have appeared. The establishment of the Tianke sub-brand appears to be expanding into a new category (floor scrubber), but in fact it is also a necessary means for Cobos to cope with the slowdown of the sweeper growth and seek new profits. In the author's opinion, cleaning small household appliances is a new track, product update iterations are very fast, and more and more entrants. Stone Technology, Cloud Whale Intelligence, Xiaomi and Chaimi are all "braves" in this track. Only if Cobos is constantly at the forefront of the industry, can it cope with the challenges brought about by changes in demand. In the next three years, if Cobos fails to make a breakthrough in the field of sweeping robots, its lack of corporate growth will soon be highlighted, and it is only a matter of time before it is caught up by other brands.

Yunjing releases new product J2, once again leading the new trend of the market

On September 25, the second generation of Cloud Whale was announced on Tmall live broadcast. According to the official introduction, the second-generation Cloud Whale has functions such as automatic watering, automatic addition of cleaning fluid, automatic backwashing of the mop, automatic thermal drying of the mop, and radar 360-degree low-profile anti-stuck. Among them, for the industry, the automatic watering function has once again broken through the technological innovation of the automatic sweeper industry, leading the new development of the industry.

Comment: After two years, Yunjing released the second product J2 based on the original product, which has functions such as automatic water supply and automatic addition of cleaning fluid. Compared with the automation of sweeping functions, the realization of mopping automation is more complicated. The highlight of Yunjing J2 is the addition of the optional "up and down" module. This time users don't even need to change the water, and will never stop the robot work because of forgetting to change the water tank. The addition of the "up and down module" allows the sweeping and mopping robot to be further automated, and at the same time, it lowers the threshold for users to use, and completely realizes the full automation of the mopping function. Yunjing uses innovative technology to refresh users' original knowledge of sweeping and dragging robots, enhance user experience, and once again lead the new development of the industry.

Yunjing Intelligent was established in 2016. After three years of research and development, it has developed a sweeping and dragging integrated robot J1 with "mop self-cleaning" function. The product was officially launched on the domestic market on Double 11 in 2019. Ten thousand sales, became famous in the first world war. Since the launch of Yunjing J1, many robot vacuum brands have been interested in the "base station + robot" model. Brands including Roborock, Xiaomi, Cobos and Zhimi are all following up with sweeping and dragging robots in the "base station + robot" model.

During the 618 period of this year, Cloud Whale J1 achieved a sales performance of over 100 million in 9 minutes on the day it went on sale; the new product J2 released at the end of September this year has sold more than 70,000 monthly; during Double 11, Cloud Whale completed the same period last year in a good start. 150 times sales. In addition to its popularity in the consumer market, Yunjing Smart is also favored by the capital market. At present, it has completed Series C financing. Investors include Source Code Capital, ByteDance, and Sequoia Capital.

Why does the cloud whale sweeping and mopping robot attract the attention of consumers? The main reason is that it mopping the floor is clean and does not require the user to wash the mop by hand. After mopping the floor, it can automatically return to the base station to clean the mop. Free the user from the "semi-automatic" mopping state, so that the sweeping and mopping robot can mop the floor automatically. Yunjing took the lead in realizing the self-cleaning function of mops, redefining the consumer market's perception of sweeping robots, and bringing a new development direction to the industry.

The author found that in addition to making good products, Yunjing Smart also began to pay attention to webcast marketing. At present, it has formed a live broadcast matrix of "Brand self-broadcast + Daren live broadcast + Tmall official live broadcast", attracting audiences through live broadcast display and detailed explanation of products, increasing the exposure of brands and products, and gradually boosting sales.

Pursuing to obtain 3.6 billion yuan in financing, the market for sweeping robots is more than 100 billion

On October 20, Chase Technology announced that it had received 3.6 billion yuan in Series C financing. This round of investment was led by Huaxing New Economy Fund, CPE Yuanfeng, Country Garden Venture Capital's strategic investment, Yunfeng Fund, Panze Assets and other co-investments, and old shareholders Xiaomi Group, Shunwei Capital, IDG Capital and additional investment. After this round of financing, at the technical level, Chaimu Technology will continue to invest in the two major aspects of high-speed digital motors and AI algorithms. On the product side, Chaimu has begun to further explore more high-speed motor applications.

Comment: For high-tech companies, the integration of essential technology and life is the path that companies should take. As a smart and clean home appliance company, Chaimi Technology has raised 3.6 billion yuan in Series C financing, becoming the largest financing in the field of small home appliances since 2021. Half of Chaimi's R&D teams come from universities of science and engineering such as Tsinghua University. The work of these people is characterized by quantification and precision. Therefore, we see that Chaimu's products rotate very fast. In the process of using the product, the user experience effect is good and the product reputation is driven.

At present, Chaimi sweepers and other products are gaining momentum in China, but most of its products are sold overseas, including the United States, France, Russia, Japan and South Korea, etc. The overseas market has become Chaimi's second leg.

Whether it is in the secondary market or the primary market, it shows that investors are optimistic about sweeping robots. In 2021, there have been more than 10 financings for robot vacuum companies, and almost every brand has tens of millions of financing. On May 26, the sweeping robot brand Wali announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in A financing; on June 15, Lesheng Intelligent announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in A round of financing; on July 19, Yuli completed 50 million in A round of financing Financing; On September 21, Trifo completed hundreds of millions of yuan in C1 round of financing; in October, Chau Mi Technology completed 3.6 billion yuan in C round of financing, setting a new industry financing record; in November, Beetle Intelligence announced the completion of two rounds of financing, the overall financing amount Over 100 million.

Earlier, many research institutions stated that the robot vacuum market is a market of 100 billion yuan. UBS’s forecast also indicates that by 2025, the global and China sweeping robot markets will reach 13 billion and 5 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. According to the report of CITIC Securities "Sweeping Robot Industry Special in Machinery Industry", the current penetration rate of domestic sweeping robots in urban households is still less than 8%, which means that the sweeping robot market is a "gold mine" that has yet to be tapped.

The author thinks that when the sweeping robot can truly replace humans to complete the cleaning work, the sweeping robot will become a household necessity like a washing machine. Household robot companies need to "understand people" in order to serve people. The essence of understanding requires technology accumulation, and opportunities often arise from variables. Previously, Roborock had won the recognition of consumers and the market with its self-developed laser navigation technology, and Yunjing Intelligent had also used its "mop self-cleaning" technology to break out of the siege, and its market value has increased more than ten times. Robot sweeping is a fiercely competitive track, but as long as companies can grasp one of the pain points in sweeping and mopping to make a breakthrough, it means that there is a great opportunity to seize the traffic code and monetize through new products.

Double 11 cleaning appliances show high growth, with overall sales of 5.53 billion yuan

AVC online monitoring data shows that during the Double 11 period, the overall sales of cleaning appliances were 5.53 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.7%, and the retail volume was 3.152 million units, a year-on-year decline of 2.5%. In terms of market segments, sweeping robots and scrubbers have become the dual engines driving the growth of cleaning appliances. Among them, self-cleaning sweeping robots have a rapid growth momentum. Double 11 accounts for 75% of the overall sweeping robots. Floor scrubbers performed during Double 11. Not bad.

Comment: In addition to the health factors brought about by the epidemic, the rise of clean small home appliances is also a crucial factor in driving the rapid growth of the industry, as well as the substantial improvement of industry technology and the upgrading of consumers' quality of life. In the past two years, the increase in product functions and technical upgrades of sweeping robots have stimulated consumer demand to a certain extent. Such as the self-cleaning mop function, after mopping the floor, the sweeping and mopping robot does not need the consumer to manually wash the mop. The sweeping and mopping robot can clean the mop by itself when it returns to the base station, freeing the user's hands. Another example is AI recognition, which solves the obstacle avoidance problem of sweeping robots for small objects, allowing products to better complete cleaning tasks in complex home environments.

The rise of clean small appliances is inseparable from the "home economy" and "lazy economy". For young consumers, they are willing to pay for a convenient life. For most young people, doing housework is a waste of life. Using sweeping and mopping robots to sweep and mop the floor can free up more time for them to enjoy life.

At present, all high-end sweeping and mopping robots on the market can realize self-cleaning mops or automatic dust collection functions, bringing users a convenient lifestyle. It is precisely because of these powerful functions that have driven the high growth of the sweeping robot category, which has become the general trend of the industry. According to public data, the retail sales of 3000+ segment products in the vacuum cleaner market during Double 11 have increased. The average price of self-cleaning products is 4289 yuan, and the average price of non-self-cleaning products is only 1,745 yuan; self-cleaning during Double 11 The sales of sweeping robots accounted for 75%, an increase of 59% over the same period last year.

From the data point of view, the domestic sweeping robot industry is undergoing qualitative changes, and companies are making efforts to the high-end market. In the past two years, robot vacuum companies have launched high-end products, and high-end products on the market