Recently, some netizens said that the iRobot M6 they purchased did not spray water on the day of receipt, and after changing the machine, there was a non-identification rag failure.
At this time, the problem came, netizens chose to change the machine, but the merchant did not give the new machine for a long time. Later, I chose to repair, but the repair was negotiated on January 22, 2022, and the delivery date was set for February 22. During this period, several phone calls were made to urge, and the shipment was not rushed until January 25th.
However, netizens found that the last thing sent was a machine with obvious traces of use, and the machine was dirty and broken and scratched.
The owner said that it took only 15 days to buy 4 months, and the rest of the time was either in maintenance or on the way to repair. In addition to this netizen, there are other netizens who have encountered similar problems.
Basically, it is not sprayed, occasional prompts to cover the lid and other failures, and then the after-sales repeated delays, but also in the maintenance, or on the way to maintenance, or the purchased goods are not returned, or the return time is too long.
As a brand that develops in the United States and talks about technology, iRobot really should not have such problems in products and after-sales. Compared with competing brands such as Coworth and Stone, it is even weaker.
Previously, data said that although iRobot revenue is still growing, the growth rate has slowed down significantly, and its revenue growth rate from 2016 to 2020 is 35%, 24%, 11% and 18%, respectively. In the same period, the compound annual growth rate of revenue of Coworth and Stone Technology was 21.89% and 123% respectively, showing higher growth compared with the former.
According to the data released by Euromonitor, the global market share of iRobot in 2020 was 46%, compared with 64% in 2016, and the market share declined significantly, but compared with the 17% and 9% of the later Coworth and Stone Technology, iRobot still has a large share advantage.
In terms of market brand pattern, the domestic sweeping robot market as a whole has become a situation of "one super and many strong", but Cobos occupies half of the country, with a share of about 43.8%, nearly half. Followed by Xiaomi (14.1%), Stone Technology (11.2%), Cloud Whale (10.5%), Midea (4.1%), iRobot ranked sixth outside the TOP5 with a share of 3.3%. After 2021, iRobot has fallen to 7th place again.
At the product level, iRobot, as a brand that started with technology, has no doubt about its ability to innovate, but it seems to be a bit unsatisfactory in the Chinese market. Most of the sweeping robots in China are equipped with sweeping and dragging as standard, but iRobot is still a sweeping and dragging separation, and even the "sweeping combination" marked with classification is only a combination of sweeper and wiper for sale.
Therefore, adhering to a single tractor and a slow update strategy, it is difficult to show its advantages in the fiercely competitive Chinese market, so sometimes I have to admire the excellent matching mechanism in Europe and the United States.
At present, the sweeping robot market is still in the development period, compared to China's smart phone industry is simply a blue ocean, in addition to hitting consumer pain points in product innovation, creating new market profit points, but also in the pre-sale, after-sales respect for consumers, to create truly valuable products and services, which is also iRobot needs to think about the problem.