iRobot VP EMEA sales and marketing Jean Jacque Blank was recently in Israel for the launching of its Roomba unit's new flagship robot vacuum cleaner model. He told "Globes" that the product has become a household item in many homes around the world, and particularly in Israel, and spoke about how iRobot handles the competition from South Korean manufacturers, and discovered the future capabilities of robots.
Blank said, “The first challenge robotic vacuum cleaning machinery is to get consumers believing that this product works and completes its task.”
He added, "We see a rise in the public’s trust in robots and in our products. These consumers tell their friends how well the Roomba works. We invest a lot in advertising, including TV advertisements on TV. We invest in educating the consumers, in the store showroom and through phone service staff. All this works together. The consumers’ thinking undergoes a shift from scepticism to trusting that the product can help them. The consumers do not like vacuuming the floor, but they do like a clean floor”.
Vacuuming robots, floor washing robots, and air freshener robots - it seems that robots are everywhere. They are must have items in many homes, due to their ability to save us from performing laborious routine tasks.
iRobot is the world leader in vacuuming robots and the brand name Roomba has become the generic name of vacuuming robots, Even the sales people in the electric appliances store talk about an LG Roomba or a Samsung Roomba.
iRobot is currently launching in Israel, in collaboration with its importer, Kohelet Imports, the new flagship model, Roomba 980, the company's first robot which includes connection to the Internet (priced at 3,600 NIS). This new addition allows operating the robot via a smartphone application, even when the owner is away from home.
This robot has already been launched in the US and in Japan, and is now arriving to Israel, as part of its entry into the market in a few countries in Europe. Blank says that every year iRobot launches new flagship models that attempt to improve the quality and performance of the robot.
“It is important for us to keep the simple, easy to operate interface for the user. On the robot there is a large round button which says CLEAN a single click sends the robot for its cleaning work”, says Blank, which visited Israel now for the second time. We began Israel operations in 2009, and since then we see huge growth in sales. We see a lot of acceptance of the technology and the product. Israel is one of the key countries in the territories I am in charge of.”
Increase in consumers trust
Blank recounts that since the Roomba model robot launched in 2002, 14 million units were sold worldwide. “Every year our sales rate goes up 20%. This category is only at its very beginning, and still has a lot of potential for penetration into people’s homes. iRobot is rated in first place in sales of its vacuuming robots, in the world. In Israel, the penetration rate of the robots in the population is at about 10% - close to Spain, and 3 times the penetration rate in Europe. The penetration rate in Israel is the highest in the world. In the US, for example, the penetration rate is at 6%.”
Competition among the robots increases all the time. South Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG invest marketing resources in Israel and around the world, as well as manufacturers such as Neato and EchoVacs who compete for consumers. Home appliances chain stores have robots selling for a few hundred shekels only.
How do you handle the competition?
"We take this competition very seriously. The vacuuming robots’ category has very high growth potential this area is worth 7 billion dollars (including traditional vacuums T. H.), and the robots segment is at 20%. iRobot operates only in the area of robots so all our investment is focused in this area which is not the case for some of the competitors. Other than that, it is not easy to build a robot. The other companies are going through difficulties, the same as we had in our first years, such as navigation inside homes that are built with very different floor plan. We inspire other companies to join this market, and while doing this we still manage to keep our global market share 65%."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2015
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