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How does this happen? I get that competitors show up and sales go down, that seems likely. But a company that makes robot vacuums seems like it wouldn't have

by duxup 2y ago

How does this happen? I get that competitors show up and sales go down, that seems likely. But a company that makes robot vacuums seems like it wouldn't have growing overhead costs forever and once you've got a reasonable product line you might sell less but you should remain profitable / sustainable as a business... I guess they took out a $200m loan: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/29/24034201/amazon-irobot-acquisition-over-antitrust-regulator-scrutiny https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/29/24034201/amazon-irobot-ac... I guess we don't hear about companies that operate within their means so it seems like there's not many of them, but perhaps we only hear about the exceptions?

adamc 2y ago
This isn't an answer, just an anecdote. My then wife and I were early-ish adopters, and bought one, I dunno, 2005-2010 or something? It was kind of neat but it broke, I think on some toy our kid left lying around. OK, but we liked the idea, we bought another. A year or two later, it broke. I think we bought a third, and tried to be more zealous about picking up stuff that might mess with it. Ultimately, it also failed, and then we stopped buying Roombas. Our kid was older, we didn't need one as much, and they seemed kind of fragile. I haven't kept up with them, but I do still hear stories like that? To whatever extent that is a representative experience, they just weren't good enough at handling the reality of vacuuming a messy house with kids -- with was, for us, the reason they were compelling in the first place. Now I'm divorced and live alone. I don't need a roomba.
JohnFen 2y ago
I've been using Roombas since shortly after they appeared on the market, but my current one will be my last. In the future, I'll go with another manufacturer's. The reason is because once they finished addressing the many flaws the product had at the start, iRobot started adding features that I don't want (and removing a couple that I absolutely did want) and dramatically increasing the price when they did so. I can now get much better value for money from almost anyone else.
s1artibartfast 2y ago
Remaining profitable and sustainable is the hard part. They were losing money year after year since 2020, long before that loan. Business is dynamic, and sitting still is rarely the winning play for consumer products.

by duxup 2y ago

adamc 2y ago

This isn't an answer, just an anecdote. My then wife and I were early-ish adopters, and bought one, I dunno, 2005-2010 or something? It was kind of neat but it broke, I think on some toy our kid left lying around. OK, but we liked the idea, we bought another. A year or two later, it broke. I think we bought a third, and tried to be more zealous about picking up stuff that might mess with it. Ultimately, it also failed, and then we stopped buying Roombas. Our kid was older, we didn't need one as much, and they seemed kind of fragile. I haven't kept up with them, but I do still hear stories like that? To whatever extent that is a representative experience, they just weren't good enough at handling the reality of vacuuming a messy house with kids -- with was, for us, the reason they were compelling in the first place. Now I'm divorced and live alone. I don't need a roomba.

JohnFen 2y ago

I've been using Roombas since shortly after they appeared on the market, but my current one will be my last. In the future, I'll go with another manufacturer's. The reason is because once they finished addressing the many flaws the product had at the start, iRobot started adding features that I don't want (and removing a couple that I absolutely did want) and dramatically increasing the price when they did so. I can now get much better value for money from almost anyone else.

s1artibartfast 2y ago

Remaining profitable and sustainable is the hard part. They were losing money year after year since 2020, long before that loan. Business is dynamic, and sitting still is rarely the winning play for consumer products.