Amid tariffs and tough competition, Ecovacs is banking on innovation in the robot vacuum space
Even as tariffs continue to squeeze its US business, the company is doubling down on what it sees as its edge: building robot vacuums that solve real household pain points.
When it comes to robot vacuum cleaners, few markets are as fiercely contested as Singapore, as Ecovacs can attest to. Speaking to HardwareZone during a media roundtable at the Deebot X11 OmniCyclone launch in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Chris Ma, Ecovacs’ Regional Head of Southeast Asia, shared how the company is navigating two very different challenges: the lingering tariff squeeze in the United States, and the need to keep innovating in a segment where features often look the same across brands.
Chris Ma, Regional Head of Southeast Asia, Ecovacs.
On tariffs, Chris was surprisingly candid. He explained that even though Ecovacs has shifted manufacturing to Vietnam, its products are still subject to steep US duties. “In the US we are still facing high tariffs, even for products made in Vietnam and exported to the US,” he said. “To manage this, we cooperate with factories in Vietnam, but the challenge remains. The tariff is still there, and it’s significant.”
It’s a reminder of how global trade tensions continue to ripple through consumer tech. To be clear, no tech company today is immune from the ripple effects of global trade tensions, whether through tariffs, shifting supply chains, or higher logistics costs. For Ecovacs, it means managing costs across its value chain while trying not to pass too much of the pain onto US customers.
But while tariffs weigh heavily on the bottom line in the US – and by extension the company’s global profitability – Chris was quick to stress that Ecovacs’ competitive edge doesn’t come from chasing lower prices, but from a commitment to innovation. He pointed to its track record as one of the first Chinese brands to enter the robot vacuum cleaner market – dating back to models like the Deebot 730 in 2009.
Ecovacs is counting on innovations to make its robot vacuums stand apart from competitors’.
“We don’t think too much about the competition,” Chris said. “We just focus on our customers – what they need, what their pain points are, and how we can solve their problems.”
This approach has led to a series of industry-firsts. Ecovacs was the first to introduce an all-in-one station that automatically collects dust and cleans the mop, the first to replace traditional mop pads with rollers, and more recently, the first to bring in features like boost charging and cyclone technology, which eliminates the need for dust bags – a feature now being picked up by rivals like Dyson with its upcoming Spot+Scrub AI, but Ecovacs’ Deebot X11 was first to get it out to market.
“Innovation for us is not just copying others,” he added. “We believe in trying to understand our customers better and solving their problems.”
I think it’s a philosophy that may prove vital as Ecovacs competes in increasingly saturated markets. In Singapore especially, where nearly every major and smaller brand wants to establish itself in the high and low-end segments, the race isn’t just about who can undercut on price. It’s about who can keep finding new ways to make a robot vacuum stand out in our HDBs and condominiums where they’re fast becoming as common as microwaves or air purifiers.