With Vietnam’s robot vacuum market set to jump nearly 80% this year, Chinese brands are rapidly expanding their presence.
On September 22, Ecovacs (603486.SH) launched a new robot vacuum model in Ho Chi Minh aimed at the Asia-Pacific market. This year, Roborock (688169.SH), Dreame, and others have also made moves in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian markets.
Compared with eight years ago, both consumer awareness and the major players in the Southeast Asian robot vacuum market have changed significantly. Chinese brands currently hold about 80% of the market share, and the challenge now is how to further popularize the products while maintaining healthy competition.
Vietnam’s Robot Vacuum Market Grows 70–80% This Year
On September 23, at an Ecovacs specialty store near a residential area in Ho Chi Minh, the company’s Southeast Asia market head said that Vietnam’s robot vacuum market sales this year are expected to grow by about 80% year-on-year to reach $10 million.
This newly opened street-side specialty store, in addition to selling Ecovacs robot vacuums, also sells Tineco floor washers, another brand under the same group. Currently, Ecovacs has set up about 30 such street-side stores in Ho Chi Minh City, and including counters in large retailers, there are 200–300 sales outlets in the city.
Nationwide, Ecovacs has 1,000 sales outlets in Vietnam, including dozens of specialty stores, 100–200 counters in electronics department stores, as well as outlets covering second- and third-tier cities through large retailers.
In Southeast Asia, Vietnam stands as the largest robotic vacuum market. With a population of around 90 million and an average age of just 32, the country is youthful, open to new experiences, and highly receptive to technology products. Chinese companies such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and DJI have already established strong footholds in smartphones and drones, paving the way for growing consumer acceptance of Chinese brands in Vietnam.
As foreign investment increases, Vietnamese people’s income levels are rising as well. On September 22nd, Ecovacs launched a new robot vacuum model locally, priced at around RMB 6,000–7,000. Besides high-end products, Ecovacs is also promoting entry-level products. Its better-selling robot vacuums in Vietnam are priced around RMB 2,600–2,700. Factory workers in Vietnam earn around RMB 3,000–5,000 per month, making such labor-saving products affordable.
According to data from global market consultancy GfK, from January to July this year, the Southeast Asian robot vacuum retail market grew by nearly 40% year-on-year, with Vietnam recording more than 70% year-on-year sales growth.
According to Wen Jianping, founder and president of AVI DATA, robot vacuum penetration in Vietnam is less than 10%, leaving significant market potential, and most Vietnamese homes, like in China, are floored with tiles, making robotic vacuums and floor washers particularly suitable. As a result, these products are quickly gaining popularity among middle-class families in major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.
Chinese Brands Hold 80–90% of Market
Ecovacs has been developing in the Vietnamese market for eight years. According to its Southeast Asia market head, product types, competitors, and distribution channels have all changed dramatically.
Eight years ago, Ecovacs’ main competitor in Vietnam was the American brand iRobot. Back then, robot vacuums had not yet evolved into all-in-one stations, and most consumers hadn’t even heard of them. There were no online channels either—sales relied mainly on demonstrations in small street shops.
Now, the industry looks very different. According to IDC, in the first half of 2025, iRobot’s global market share had been squeezed down to fifth place by Chinese brands. In Southeast Asia, Samsung and LG also launched robot vacuums, but their impact was nowhere near as strong as in phones or TVs.
Today, Ecovacs’ main competitors in Vietnam are essentially all Chinese brands, with everyone competing across both online and offline channels. In recent years, Roborock, Dreame, and Xiaomi have been actively expanding in Southeast Asia’s robot vacuum market. In July, Dreame held a product launch in Ho Chi Minh, promoted offline experience stores, and localized its team. Xiaomi leveraged its smartphone distribution network in Vietnam to push robot vacuums, integrating them with its Mi Home ecosystem.
According to GfK senior manager Yi Zhenrong, Ecovacs, Dreame, Roborock, and other Chinese brands now rank among the top five in Southeast Asia’s robot vacuum market by sales, collectively holding over 80% of the market share. Vietnam, in particular, has become a key battleground, with the top four Chinese brands occupying over 90% of the market—up nearly 20 percentage points compared with last year.
High-end, smart, and experience-driven products are the key factors behind Southeast Asia’s rapid market growth. Yi said features such as fully automated stations, virtual mapping, and “laser + vision” obstacle avoidance are becoming standard functions that drive purchases, which has also pushed the region’s average selling price for robot vacuums from January to July 2025 up by more than 40% compared with the same period last year.
In addition, offline channels are increasingly becoming important touchpoints for Chinese brands to engage with local consumers, and from January to July 2025, offline retail accounted for over 28% of Southeast Asia’s robotic vacuum sales, up 8 percentage points year-on-year, said Yi.
Ecovacs’ Vietnam market head said that about 15% of its robot vacuum sales revenue in Vietnam comes from online channels, while 85% comes from offline channels. By contrast, the local industry average is 25% online and 75% offline. Competition, therefore, is not only about technological innovation and product quality but also about sales coverage and service capability. Unlike TVs, robot vacuums involve complex usage scenarios, and customers often need help with water connections, app downloads, and mapping.
The aforementioned Ecovacs specialty store was opened with the support of Ecovacs’ Vietnam distributor. The store offers accessories and has trained service personnel.
Potential and Challenges
As income and consumption levels in Southeast Asia continue to rise, consumers will increasingly focus on technology, product quality, and brand reputation. Yi believes that the market still holds vast potential for Chinese brands, and those with unique designs and functional experiences will be more likely to win favor.
Wen Jianping also noted that Vietnam, with nearly 100 million people, has about 14 million in Ho Chi Minh and over 8 million in Hanoi, and adding migrants, the combined figure is around 25 million. Assuming 4–5 people per household, that’s about 5 million households, and if robot vacuum penetration reaches 15%, that means a capacity of 750,000 units, indicating huge growth potential.
Markets in Malaysia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries are also expanding quickly. Wen estimated that Indonesia, with 280 million people, has a sizable potential market if just 10% of its middle- to high-income population buys robot vacuums.
Chinese companies are accelerating new product launches in Southeast Asia, with prices slightly higher than in the domestic market. For example, Ecovacs’ new X11 series robotic vacuum with rollers, launched in Vietnam this time, had been on sale in China for just over a month at 5,000–6,000 RMB, but costs 6,000–7,000 RMB in Vietnam due to logistics and other expenses.
In the first half of this year, Ecovacs’ overseas revenue grew rapidly. In Q2, its brand’s overseas revenue increased 66.6% year-on-year. Currently, China, Europe, and the U.S. account for 80% of Ecovacs’ total revenue. Southeast Asia has become a key growth market and profit driver for the company’s future.
Roborock also said in its mid-year report that it would further expand in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. In Q4 2024, it started contract manufacturing in Vietnam to better serve international markets flexibly, and with the global cleaning robot market steadily growing, the robot vacuum segment still has significant room for growth, though competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
How to deepen consumer education and maintain healthy industry competition are challenges that leading Chinese robotic vacuum makers must address in Southeast Asia.
In Vietnam, Ecovacs organizes events in large shopping malls and collaborates with local KOLs and influencers—including those in tech, lifestyle, and pet-related media—to break into different consumer groups and reach more potential customers.
“Consumer habits vary across Southeast Asian countries. For example, in Indonesia, some homes use carpets. Chinese robotic vacuum makers need to innovate more and design differentiated products that better suit local needs,” Wen reminded.