There aren't many market segments left for Roborock.

“I don't know how Roborock is implementing its new strategy. All I see is huge spending, but I have no idea where the money is going.”

This view comes from an investor in Roborock. Currently, Roborock is in the throes of an “entrepreneurial anxiety.” At the IFA Berlin in early September, Roborock launched three intelligent lawn mowing robot products, aiming to enter the Western outdoor cleaning market.

This intelligent cleaning brand, which emerged from Xiaomi's ecosystem, is seeking a secondary listing. In June this year, Roborock submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming for dual - financing channels on the STAR Market and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, attracting both domestic and foreign capital to prepare for channel expansion, R & D, and new business development.

However, in previous innovation attempts, Roborock has either been a step behind or failed. Except for the floor scrubber, which is currently profitable, other business lines have not taken shape.

When being interviewed by Jiemian, Chang Jing mentioned that he once constructed a talent model with six factors to recruit new talents and evaluate current employees. Chang Jing said: “I believe that every aspect of myself is a strength, with no weaknesses.” He publicly stated that competitors often use the content of his Douyin videos on his personal account to smear Roborock, which catches him off guard. A significant portion of the content in these videos consists of Chang Jing's thoughts and experiences on car - making and driving.

In the eyes of investors, the founder has a “conceited and self - centered” personality. From underestimating the innovation opportunities in the floor scrubber category to “heavily investing” in car - making out of personal interest, while chasing a red - ocean industry, Chang Jing missed a major opportunity in the humanoid robot market, which is like “abandoning the first bus to catch the last one.”

What worries the market even more is how many “trial - and - error opportunities” are left for Roborock and Chang Jing in the future?

01 Born from Industry Beta

The development history of Roborock is almost a history of changes in industry dividends.

In the early days of entrepreneurship, Chang Jing was undoubtedly good at seizing market opportunities. In the early days of the Internet, Chang Jing got his startup acquired by Baidu for $12 million through a beauty - filter APP product.

In Chang Jing's view, Roborock has seized two rounds of market dividends. First, Roborock was founded in July 2014 and received investment from Xiaomi to enter its ecosystem just two months later, solving the problem of “survival.” Second, when the OEM business was on track, Roborock transformed into an independent brand, decoupled from Xiaomi, and at the same time, seized the trend of the robot industry going global, quickly entering developed markets and reaping the dual dividends of brand and market.

The performance data can intuitively reflect how big a dividend cake seizing the floor - sweeping robot market has brought to Roborock.

In the first half of this year, Roborock achieved a revenue of 7.903 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 78.96%. Among them, 99.93% of the revenue came from intelligent cleaning products and accessories. According to Roborock's business division, its current intelligent cleaning products mainly include intelligent floor - sweeping robots, floor scrubbers, and washer - dryers. Undoubtedly, the floor - sweeping robot remains the absolute main money - maker for Roborock.

This product has strong certainty, and Roborock has a significant first - mover advantage.

According to IDC data, the global floor - sweeping robot market grew steadily in the first half of this year, with shipments reaching 11.263 million units, a year - on - year increase of 16.5%. Among them, Roborock's shipments were 2.326 million units, accounting for a 20.7% market share. Competitors such as Ecovacs, Dreame, Xiaomi, and iRobot followed closely. In the global cleaning robot market, Roborock still ranks first with a 15.2% market share.

However, Roborock also faces the problem of a single business structure. Investors are worried that once the industry growth rate declines, where will Roborock go?

In the first half of the year, Roborock's revenue increased, but its profit did not. It earned less money while having more expenses. Despite a sharp increase in revenue, the net profit was 678 million yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 39.55%. The net cash flow from operating activities plummeted 179.84% to - 823 million yuan, which was the first negative value since 2019 for Roborock.

In the first half of 2023, 2024, and 2025, the gross profit margins of Roborock's intelligent products were 55.32%, 50.36%, and 44.59% respectively. Roborock explained that the company is replacing distributors with direct sales globally, increasing the coverage of self - operated channels and investing more in brand building, which has led to a decline in profits.

In the first half of the year, Roborock's sales expenses soared by 144%, and R & D investment skyrocketed by 67.28%. The total R & D investment of 685 million yuan even exceeded the total net profit. For Ecovacs, another listed company, the R & D expense ratio in the first half of the year was 5.76%, while for Roborock, it was 8.7%.

The rift between investors' and the company's perspectives is widening. In Roborock's view, high investment in R & D and sales expenses is conducive to increasing future profits. However, in the eyes of investors, Roborock's profit “bleeding” continues.

02 How Many Chips Does Roborock Have?

Regarding the issue of whether to reduce holdings, a chain of suspicion has formed between Chang Jing and Roborock's investors.

After the release of the third - quarter financial report last year, Roborock was on the hot search due to a sharp drop in its stock price and the founder's share reduction. Chang Jing publicly responded:

“I hope that investors holding Roborock's stocks can be a little more patient. Now is a strategic transformation period and also a painful period, which will inevitably bring some changes to the company. These changes are all for the company's long - term development.”

For this reason, Chang Jing made non - reduction commitments twice. In June last year, he promised not to reduce his holdings for six months, and in June this year, he simply promised not to reduce his holdings for 12 months.

For investors, high - profile R & D investment by Roborock is not a bad thing, but some preconditions must be met. The founder should not reduce his holdings frequently, and Roborock should spend money wisely. In the past, the problem was that the founder was immersed in his own world, believing that Roborock's innovation alpha could overcome industry beta, and repeatedly wasted resources in red - ocean industries.

When being interviewed by Renwu, Chang Jing said that after Roborock went public in 2020, his life reached a peak, and he urgently needed another dream to support his sense of purpose. In less than a year, Chang Jing switched to car - making. In August 2023, the Jishi 01 was officially launched. At the delivery ceremony, Chang Jing said: “In the past year, 90% of my energy has been on car - making.”

“Chasing the last wave of the new - energy vehicle industry due to personal hobbies has somewhat affected Roborock's development path. He says he focuses on Roborock and that the car - making is just a financial investment, and he can't always manage the car business. But it's obvious from the videos that most of his energy is on the car business,” an investor said.

As a result of Chang Jing's car - making, Roborock's market value plummeted by more than 77% in more than a year and then slowly recovered. The Jishi 01 model only exceeded 1,000 units in sales in March this year, and the sales volume was fixed at 1,286 units in August.

The same story also happened in the washing machine sector.

In 2023, Roborock launched its first washing machine product, attempting to replicate its experience of disrupting the market with technology from the floor - sweeping robot to the washing machine. The first - generation Roborock Molecular Sieve Washer - Dryer H1 uses a molecular sieve low - temperature drying technology developed independently over three years, claiming to disrupt the traditional drying mode in the washing machine market, with a price of 5,999 yuan.

From a performance perspective, Roborock's financial report shows that the sales of intelligent electrical appliances, including washing machines, were 550 million yuan in 2023 and 1.07 billion yuan in 2024, showing relatively fast growth overall, but the market scale has not been fully developed. In June this year, Roborock's Nanjing washing machine division carried out a large - scale layoff of more than 70%, covering departments from product to supply chain.

And in the areas where it should really make efforts, Roborock has always been a step behind.

“Underestimating the structural innovation of the floor scrubber category back then led to missing a big wave of business opportunities and giving the chance to Dreame,” an investor said.

While Chang Jing was focusing on car - making, Tineco launched the Floor One 1.0 floor scrubber, and Dreame launched the H11 Max floor scrubber. According to data from the Forward - looking Industry Research Institute, the market size of floor scrubbers in China was only 70 million yuan in 2019 and reached about 1.43 billion yuan in 2024. The market has grown rapidly from scratch.

Fortunately, Roborock made up for lost time and quickly entered the floor - scrubber market. Financial report data shows that the revenue of other intelligent products, including floor scrubbers, was 1.07 billion yuan last year, a year - on - year increase of 93.13%. However, if it had made early arrangements with the same intensity as in car - making, Roborock might have long since escaped the status of a follower.

The same is true in the lawn mower field. Before Roborock entered the market, intelligent lawn mowing robot products from Ninebot and Dreame had already been launched. However, compared with the washing machine and car sectors, Roborock's layout in the lawn mower field has received relatively positive feedback. The reason is that the market finally sees Roborock venturing into a business blue ocean rather than competing in a mature market.

03 Few Tracks Are Left for Roborock

Currently, Chang Jing and Roborock need to stay vigilant.

On the one hand, the patent war in the industry continues. On September 16th, Ecovacs sued Roborock in the Unified Patent Court of Europe for infringing its European patent named “Robot positioning method, robot, and storage medium.”

In the future, there are few blue - ocean tracks left for Roborock. In the household cleaning robot sector, leading brands have expanded from indoor to outdoor, and the functions from sweeping to mopping have been continuously segmented, covering almost all available scenarios. Lawn mowers target the outdoor lawn cleaning needs in Western countries. In the household cleaning robot scenario, Chinese brands are dividing up the market demand for floor - sweeping and floor - mopping in household scenarios. When leading brands are in fierce competition, new brands are still entering the market.

This year is the year when the floor - sweeping robot industry loses its luster. Brands are engaged in fierce price wars. Flagship products have become mid - range, and mid - range products have become low - end. Xiaomi has reduced the price of its 3C enhanced - version floor - sweeping robot to about 950 yuan. The market impression of floor - sweeping robots as high - tech products is gone.

Currently, Roborock is continuously reducing product configurations and lowering prices to cope with the price war in the entire floor - sweeping robot industry. On Amazon, the limited - time promotional price of the youth version of the Roborock Qrevo Curv floor - sweeping robot, originally priced at $1,599, has dropped to $999.9. In China, some consumers have angrily reported that the price of the Roborock floor - sweeping robot they bought three months ago has dropped by 1,000 yuan.

In the traditional home appliance field, no matter which track it enters, Roborock has to fight a tough battle with low entry barriers, high competition, and low growth rates. This has never been a dividend area for Roborock. Fang Hongbo, the chairman of Midea Group, has repeatedly warned that the home appliance industry is already a red ocean. Not only has the market growth reached its peak, but the space for cost - reduction and efficiency - improvement has also reached its limit. For anyone who rushes into the home appliance industry, the result can only be self - harm while hurting the enemy.

The painful lesson of the large - scale layoff in the washer - dryer division reminds Roborock that even if it conducts in - depth research for several years and comes up with a major innovation that can impact the industry, a late - comer is unable to shake industry giants.

In the lawn mower sector, the market is currently growing rapidly. According to an IDC report, the global shipments of lawn mowing robots reached 2.343 million units in the first half of 2025, about one - fifth of the scale of floor - sweeping robots, with a year - on - year growth of up to 327.2%. The industry is on the verge of an explosion.

However, the lawn mower market is turning from blue to red. At the CES 2025 International Consumer Electronics Show, companies such as Ninebot, Dreame, Ecovacs, and Ubtech launched lawn mower products. In February this year, Dreame announced that the shipments of its lawn mower products had exceeded 100,000 units.

Some investors said that Roborock's advantage lies in its strong R & D ability and leading products, but it has missed too many opportunities. Dreame launched its humanoid robot a long time ago, while Roborock has shown no sign of action.

As of now, the story of Roborock's secondary listing is not yet attractive enough, and the second growth curve outside the floor - sweeping robot has not taken shape. The market expects that in the third quarter of this year, Roborock's floor scrubber may turn a profit and take over the growth baton. However, the problem is that there is competition between floor scrubbers and floor - sweeping robots. Finding the next growth scenario ultimately means finding the next lifestyle for consumers, which is undoubtedly difficult.

For this confident “Roborock,” it is necessary to quickly seize good tracks with strong execution in the future, rather than trying to jump when the elevator can no longer move forward.

This article is from the WeChat public account “Market Insights”. Author: Jing Xing. Editor: Wen Changlong. Republished by 36Kr with permission.