(Yicai) Nov. 12 -- Sales of robot vacuum cleaners in China soared during the Double 11 online shopping bonanza, which ended yesterday, as government subsidies of high-end home appliances and other promotions helped drive down prices.

Cleaning robots sold swiftly on e-commerce platforms over the promotional period, thanks to government subsidies which amounted to one fifth of the price. This meant that a customer could buy a cleaning robot costing CNY5,000 (USD691) for just over CNY4,000, a staff member of e-retailer JD.com who is based in southern China told Yicai.

Sales of and enquiries about Beijing Roborock Technology’s cleaning robots more than quintupled over the promotional period from Oct. 12 to Nov. 11 from the same period in previous years, a company insider said.

Demand for the X8 has outstripped supply since Ecovacs Robotics’ latest robot vacuum cleaner hit the market in September, said Wang Hongwei, general manager for Chinese business at the Suzhou-based company. X8's omni-channel sales are expected to top 100,000, he said. Some models are already out of stock.

Government subsidies stimulated sales of medium and high-end cleaning robots, Yicai noticed on JD.com yesterday. However, budget robot vacuum cleaners with a price tag under CNY1,000 (USD138) have started to appear on e-commerce platforms.

The sliding price of robot vacuum cleaners is definitely due to their increased market penetration rate, Wang said. As competition stiffens, suppliers cannot charge a high premium for long.

Manufacturers can keep their prices stable through continuous innovations and by enhancing product performance, Wang said. As prices drop, more consumers will buy the latest products with enhanced features, he added.

Technological iteration can boost cleaning robots' capabilities to partial extreme cleaning from initial full cleaning, Wang said. Soon they will be upgraded to full extreme cleaning.

This means there is still a lot of space for innovation and there is no need for concern about the impact on profitability due to the tumbling sales of old products, he added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor