Source: CHEAA-run China Appliance magazine

At IFA 2024, Chinese cleaning appliance brands such as Ecovacs, Dreame, Roborock, Narwal, and JIMMY made a strong presence. After years of development, Chinese cleaning appliance players expand sales worldwide and stand strong under their self-developed brands driven by advanced technology.

With vast market opportunities at home and abroad and evolving demands shaped by technological innovation, China’s cleaning appliance industry is geared up to go forth and conquer.

Targeted strategies for the domestic and the international market

Fueled by the trade-in program for home appliances, this year’s Double 11 shopping festival was one of the busiest in years. Yet, cleaning appliances are not one of the 8 categories listed in the trade-in program.

With Ecovacs reporting a decline in its Q3 performance, Fotile putting its Miboi cleaning appliance project on hold, and Lexy stretching into coffee machine business, doubts rise over the cleaning appliance sector which was once recognized as a rising star with the stunning rollout of wet-dry vacuum cleaners. Would it sink to a situation where sales growth goes slow though the market is still there, like dishwashers did before?

Data suggests otherwise. According to AVC, total sales of cleaning appliances reached 23.4 billion RMB from January to September 2024, up 11.0% year-on-year, while China’s overall home appliance retail sales were 614.4 billion RMB, down 0.2% year-on-year. Among cleaning appliances, sales of robot vacuums rose by 19.7% in value and 13.0% in volume, while wet-dry vacuum cleaner (floor washer) sales grew by 6.3% in value and 25.1% in volume. Together, these two categories now account for 70% of China’s cleaning appliance market, with substantial growth potential ahead—especially considering that while refrigerators have a 100% penetration rate in China, cleaning appliances are still only at about 10%.

At the domestic market, robot vacuums with all-in-one station allow it to mop the floor, entering a steady development phase. Wet dry vacuum cleaners, after three years of rapid expansion, calm down to a phase of rational consumption. Vacuum cleaners regain momentum powered by combo products and new high-speed motors rolled out by high-tech brands.

These developments signal a significant upgrade in the domestic cleaning appliance market, with product structure, brand positioning, and technological focus aligning to a more sustainable growth path. It lays a foundation for the further expansion of cleaning appliances into the Chinese households.

At the global market, Chinese brands are stepping up efforts in both product marketing and brand building. Although the global cleaning appliance market has been lackluster in recent years—and in 2024 only seen modest growth—Chinese brands already dominate 60% of the global robot vacuum market. Companies like Ecovacs, Dreame, Roborock, and Narwal continue to achieve high revenue growth in overseas markets, often exceeding 100% year-on-year in specific regions or during certain periods. With both technological and cost advantages, they are rapidly taking market share.

Chinese brands are adjusting their strategies to accommodate to local markets. For example, Tineco achieved over 50% export growth by value in the first half of 2024 by introducing lighter and more compact wet-dry vacuums tailored for Japan’s smaller living spaces. Similarly, Dreame, with over 120% growth in overseas revenue in 2023, has used its localized strategy to tailor products to regional preferences, such as equipping vacuums with V-shaped anti-tangle carpet brushes for markets in Europe and North America.

In just a few years, these brands have reached a balance between domestic and international markets, driving rapid industry growth through core technological innovation.

Greater development ahead with continuous investment in innovation

The launch of China’s first robot vacuum by Ecovacs in 2008 marked a turning point for the industry towards innovation-driven development. In the next ten years, Ecovacs went public; Roborock rolled out products under its brand; Narwal was just founded for two years and Dreame for one year. Over the next twenty years, Chinese cleaning appliance brands are establishing themselves as global leaders through relentless innovation that solved consumer pain points and earned market trust.

Through this process, a consistent logic has emerged across the industry: using technology to address key challenges in market space, brand identity, and industrial layout.

In expanding market opportunities, cleaning appliance companies focus on solving real user pain points through technological innovation. For instance, advancements in navigation, obstacle avoidance, hair tangle prevention, and even stair-climbing have revitalized the robot vacuum market repeatedly. Beyond that, breakthroughs in weight reduction, power efficiency, and self-cleaning for wet-dry vacuums have sustained their popularity during periods of rapid growth.

On brand identity, the high R&D investments of leading Chinese cleaning appliance brands have strengthened their high-tech image. These brands consistently reinforce their technological edge and enhance their high-value brand image, appealing to a wide range of consumers across domestic and international markets.

In industrial layout, the sector has diversified product portfolios based on core technologies like high-speed motors and intelligent algorithms, enabling localized solutions for overseas markets. These strategies have achieved notable success, allowing both category expansion and market penetration.

Despite the negative connotation of “homogenization” in many industries, the "homogenization" in the overall tech-driven strategies of cleaning appliance players, is a recognized positive force as it is believed that these technologies will carry the industry to stand out as a proud example of “Made in China” on the global stage.