The cross-border sales with annual revenue of nearly 10 billion yuan collapsed

However, Stone Technology has recently become popular again, but it is not because it has launched any new products or made further progress in its overseas layout.

Is the leader in sweeping robots no longer in its heyday?

According to information, Roborock Technology was founded in 2014. Its main products include smart sweeping robots, floor scrubbers, washer-dryers and other smart appliances. The company began to expand overseas in 2017, focusing on the US, European and Southeast Asian markets.

Stone Technology has opened online brand stores on online platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Target, and BestBuy in the United States , and has also entered the large offline supermarket Target in the United States.

At present, Roborock Technology's products have been distributed in more than 170 countries and regions around the world, and more than 15 million households are using its sweeping robots to clean the floor.

Riding on the wave of going overseas, Stone Technology's revenue growth has also smoothly entered the fast lane.

Data shows that from 2021 to 2023, Stone Technology's revenue was 5.837 billion yuan, 6.629 billion yuan, and 8.654 billion yuan, respectively, with growth rates of 28.84%, 13.56% and 30.55%.

During the same period, Stone Technology's revenue in overseas markets was RMB 3.364 billion, RMB 3.483 billion and RMB 4.229 billion respectively. It can be said that the overseas market has become one of the largest sources of revenue for Stone Technology.

In 2023, Stone Technology's overseas omni-channel strategy continued to advance, and the company's overseas business continued to improve. Data showed that Stone Technology's overseas revenue for the whole year of 2023 reached 4.229 billion yuan, an increase of 21.42% over the same period last year.

However, according to the latest financial report released by Stone Technology, its rapidly growing revenue and net profit seem to have been put on hold.

The financial report shows that Stone Technology's operating income in the third quarter of 2024 was 2.591 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.9%, but its net profit was only 350 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 43.4%.

In fact, the decline in Stone Technology's net profit growth rate had been foreshadowed. In the first quarter of this year, Stone Technology's net profit was 398.8 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 95.23%. By the middle of the year, Stone Technology's financial report showed that its profit in the first half of the year was 1.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 51.57%.

But in the third quarter, financial reports showed that Stone Technology's net profit in the first three quarters was only 1.472 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of only 8.22%.

Some industry insiders predict that if this trend continues, Stone Technology's full-year net profit growth rate will most likely be negative.

Affected by this, Stone Technology's stock price fell sharply.

On October 31, Stone Technology's stock price plummeted at the opening, with the decline reaching the limit of 20cm at one point. Over the next dozen trading days, Stone Technology's stock price continued to fall.

The chairman reduced his holdings by nearly 900 million, but advised investors to be patient

Some time ago, the remarks made by the chairman of Stone Technology caused quite a bit of controversy. As the chairman and actual controller of the company, he said that the company is currently in a critical period of strategic transformation and advised investors to wait patiently.

However, according to an announcement by Stone Technology, its chairman sold off the company's shares twice from March to September 2023 and June 2024, cashing out a total of 887 million yuan.

And at the critical moment when Stone Technology's net profit growth rate hit the largest decline in a single quarter in the past three years, its chairman still seemed to not care. Instead, he was still concentrating on operating his personal social media account, which seemed to indicate that he did not want to be a boss but wanted to be an "Internet celebrity".

As for "not doing one's job properly", the chairman of Stone Technology actually has a precedent. As early as 2021, the founder of Stone Technology had crossed over to car manufacturing and founded Jishi Automobile.

However, perhaps because the brand is too niche, the first model launched by JISHI Auto failed to meet expectations in terms of exposure and sales, which forced the chairman of Stone Technology to focus more on the promotion of JISHI Auto.

Some investors even believe that the decline in Stone Technology's performance is due to the chairman's excessive concern about the automotive business and other matters unrelated to the company's core business.

It has to be admitted that, affected by the overall consumption power and the general slowdown in the industry, Stone Technology is certainly not immune to it. In order to solve the problem of the company's overly single product line, Stone Technology has also tried to increase research and development to expand its product line.

Earlier reports said that Roborock has invested a lot of money and resources in washing machine products. Different from the products of traditional home appliance brands, Roborock said it will focus on the "mini washing machine" segment, mainly targeting the washing and drying of small intimate clothing, as well as the laundry needs of young people in rental houses.

Having said that, Stone Technology still faces competition from home appliance brands such as Dreame and Xiaomi in this field. It remains to be seen whether it can gain a foothold in the new field.

In its core business of sweeping robots, Stone Technology also faces considerable challenges.

Roborock Technology's sweeping robot business faces difficulties

In recent years, sweeping robots have been criticized by consumers as a waste of money because of their inability to accurately identify obstacles and incomplete floor cleaning.

For Stone Technology, complaints about its products are commonplace, and the reasons for the complaints include: "poor product quality", "multiple failures during product use", "refusal of after-sales service", etc.

In addition to consumer complaints, Stone Technology has also been caught up in "infringement disputes." This year, Stone Technology has repeatedly suffered from patent lawsuits due to insufficient R&D investment.

According to a ruling by the Düsseldorf District Court in Germany in mid-August, Chinese home appliance giant Dreame and Stone Technology had a patent infringement lawsuit overseas, and Stone Technology has lost the case.

Judging from the specific case information, two sweeping robots under Stone Technology infringed on the patent of Dreame products in the field of "cleaning devices and cleaning equipment". The effective date of the patent in question may be April 18, 2024.

Ultimately, the court ruled that Stone Technology must cease the sale, use and import of the relevant patented products involved in the case in Germany, and that it must provide information on the suppliers and customers of the relevant products, hand over the inventory of the products involved to the bailiffs for destruction, recall the products that have been sold, compensate Zhuimi for all losses it has suffered and will suffer since April 18, and bear the relevant expenses of this lawsuit.

It can be foreseen that this judgment will inevitably have an impact on Stone Technology's German market.

In the future, as more and more new players join the overseas race, Stone Technology may face more intense competition overseas.

Stone Technology

Going to sea

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