More Neato robot vacuums to sweep into China

Neato Robotics, the US-based smart robot manufacturer, will introduce more of its robot vacuums with integrated technologies into China, as the country is undergoing a consumption upgrading boom.

Matt Petersen, Neato's CEO, said China, especially its top-tier cities, not only has the highest penetration of online shoppers in the world, but also the fastest growing middle-income group.

“For instance: consumers in the US don't care what's in the phone. They care what it does. The Chinese users want to know what's in the phone and what they can process. They want to know about the RAM and the technical aspects of it,” he said.

Petersen said the march into the Chinese market this year is fairly meaningful for the company's global deployment. China is currently one of the world's largest markets for smart home appliances. The Silicon Valley-headquartered company found that Chinese consumers today are more attentive to their quality of life and tend to choose powerful and outstanding products.

Neato's business mainly focuses on developing intelligent laser navigation, smart home connectivity and cleaning technologies. It operates two factories in China and a customer service center in Suzhou. In addition to the US, the company's major overseas markets are China, Germany, Italy and France.

“We believe that our new flagship robot, Neato D7, will spur on a new cycle of innovation in both the global and home robotic market,” said Petersen.

The demand for domestic cleaning robots in China's market has experienced a rapid growth since 2016 and gains more attention with each passing day. According to data from market research institute GFK, the scale of cleaning robots in the Chinese market will reach 5.38 billion yuan ($781 million) in 2018, with retail sales reaching 4.35 million units. At present, the retail sales volume for cleaning robots shows a five-year compound growth rate of 51 percent.

Zhu Jie, general manager of Neato China, said that while facing a market full of opportunities and challenges, Neato will continue to promote products through unique technological routes and stringent quality requirements to further compete with other established rivals in China.