Can Stone Technology's productism win marketingism?

On the 29th, Stone Technology released the semi -annual report of 2022. Operating income increased by 24.49%year -on -year, and the sweeping robot industry grew steadily in economic adversity. The horizontal contrast, the growth of the opponent Kobos is quite impressive. Stone Technology and Cobos, one pays more attention to R & D investment, one pays more attention to marketing investment, and in the period of rapid development of the industry. Which of these two lines is more effective?

石 On August 29, Stone Technology released the half -annual report of 2022. In the first half of the year, operating income was 2.923 billion yuan, an increase of 24.49%year -on -year, and net profit was 617 million yuan. Based on the semi -annual report of Cobos a few days ago, overall, the robot industry was in considerable growth.

With the rapid development of the robot industry, each header company also began to try to get out of different routes. In addition to increasing R & D, Stone Technology has begun to build its own production capacity. It is hoped that through the control of production links, it can achieve innovative routes that manufacture and develop each other.

Heavy development and self -built production capacity, Stone Technology is getting harder and harder.

In contrast, Cobos has a relatively large investment in marketing.

In the first half of the year, Cobos' sales expenses increased by 52.51%year -on -year to 1.857 billion yuan, accounting for 27.2%in total revenue, 352 million R & D expenses, accounting for 5.16%, and 20%of the sales costs. In contrast, stone science and technology marketing investment is 501 million yuan, accounting for 17.14%of the revenue, and R & D investment is 226 million yuan, accounting for 7.74%of the revenue.

Product innovation and marketing will be the two major strategic keys in the future sweeping robot industry. Which road will go better?

Five highlights of stone science and technology financial report

Throughout the financial report of Stone Technology, it feels that while the company is developing steadily, it has increased the efforts of R & D innovation and controlling production. In summary, you can see the following five highlights.

First, operating income grows steadily.

According to the number of financial reports, in the first half of 2022, the total operating income of Stone Technology was 2.923 billion yuan, an increase of 24.49%year -on -year; net profit reached 617 million yuan, a slight decrease year -on -year, and the net profit after deduction increased slightly. At the moment of the epidemic, the economy of the house has risen, so the demand for scanning robots has increased. Net profit has decreased because the company has invested more in marketing than in previous years. In addition, the proportion of R & D in stone technology is also relatively high.

Second, continue to increase investment in R & D.

According to the disclosure of Stone Technology, in the first half of 2022, the company's R & D investment was 226 million yuan, an increase of 13.74%year -on -year, and the total revenue in total was 7.74%. According to data, from 2019 to 2021, this ratio is 4.59%, 5.80%, and 7.55%.

Covering robots involve artificial intelligence, mechanical institutions and optical sensing, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the future. Stone Technology has been doing mid -to -high -end markets. Through R & D and innovation, it can ensure the company's leading position in the market and avoid homogeneity.

Third, the sales gross profit margin is 48.20%, which is basically stable.

The gross profit margin of Stone Technology has always been relatively high. From 2019 to 2021, the gross profit margin is 36.12%, 45.53%, and 48.11%. 48.83%. The overall growth is still achieved. Considering that the cost of raw materials such as chips and other raw materials is not easy to have this result.

Fourth, the proportion of R & D personnel accounted for 54.08%.

At the end of the reporting period, the number of stone technology R & D personnel reached 477, accounting for 54.08%of the company's total number. Per capita Chuangli reached 6990,000 yuan. According to public data, Cobos' company R & D in 2021 accounted for 15.24%. Xiaomi's R & D personnel in the first quarter of this year accounted for about 44%, and Huawei's data in 2021 was 54.8%. In contrast, the proportion of R & D of Stone Technology is quite high.

Fifth, self -built factories, product innovation and quality and supply will be more stable.

As early as July, Stone Technology announced that it would spend 460 million yuan, and the capital increase subsidiary "self -built manufacturing center project" was planned to be 23 months. Stone Technology will be converted from outsourced processing methods to outsourced processing and independent production to achieve "research and sales" integration.

The self -built factory can ensure the quality of the product and ensure the supply in a very period.

What are the advantages and barriers of research and development?

In the robot industry, a major feature of Stone Technology is re -developed.

In June of this year, at a online sharing meeting, Stone Technology CEO Chang Jing summarized Stone Technology: Stone Technology is an innovative -driven enterprise. The company's strategy is a differentiated strategy, that is, to obtain user recognition through innovation.

Chang Jing believes that only each generation of products can achieve technological leaders can ensure competitive advantages and build technical barriers. "As long as we lead a half step, we don't need to fight a price war."

The sweeping robot was originally a "lazy" industry. Users are pursuing a better experience. Therefore, if they can effectively improve their experience, these people are not so sensitive to prices.

According to the data of Aowei Cloud, in 2021, the sales and sales of more than 3,000 yuan (mainly self -cleaning products) were sold in the domestic online sales of TOP50 floor -to -floor robots. 25.22%and 32.02%. The sales of stone technology products also illustrate this.

In March 2022, Stone Technology released the flagship product of the year, self -cleaning and dragging robot G10S series. This series includes two versions of G10S and G10S Pro, with the first price of 4799 yuan and 5699 yuan. This product has the five functions of automatic mop, automatic dust collection, automatic hydration, automatic hydration, bacteriostatic, and self -cleaning of base stations. It can also be equipped with automatic water change and automatic drying function.

According to the statistics of Ovi Cloud, in the first half of 2022, the G10s and G10 of Stone high -end flagship products were ranked 4th and fifth in the TOP50 model list of online sweeping robots in the online sweeping robot; of which G10S began pre -sale at the end of March 2022, From April to June 2022, March ranked first on the sales list of Avi Cloud Cycling Robot Sweeping Robot.

It turns out that as long as the product is good, the price can be sold. As Chang Jing said, if you take a half step, you don't need to fight a price war.

A good experience requires more functions, which also means more R & D investment.

According to statistics, as of June 30, 2022, Stone Technology has cumulatively applied for 2,851 intellectual property rights and was approved by 1,371.

Chang Jing's technology of sweeping robotics was disassembled into three major pieces: artificial intelligence algorithms; mechanical structure; optical sensors. In response to these three major pieces, Stone Technology established three research institutes: AI Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, Mechanical and Electrical Research Institute, and Optoelectronics Research Institute.

Moreover, the innovation of stone technology is not to innovate for innovation, but for user pain points and directional innovation.

Chang Jing believes that innovation is a result, not a goal. "The essence of innovation is that when we find a problem, we look for solutions. It happens that this solution has not been used by others. It is unique to us. This is called innovation."

Perhaps because of this concept, the stability, reliability and quality of stone technology products are more trustworthy.

The sweeping robot industry is developing rapidly, but the product experience still has a lot of room for rise. At this stage, high investment and mid -to -high -end product positioning can ensure the company's products and lead the industry development. Without innovative development, there is no future by reducing costs.

Although Chang Jing believes that the stock price cannot completely reflect the status of a company, Stone Technology is still recognized by the capital market.

In 2021, Stone Technology Stocks were included in the science and Technology 50 Index, the Shanghai Stock Exchange 180 Index, the CSI 300 Index, the MSCI China Index, FTSE Russell Global Stock Index and other domestic and foreign core indexes and the scope of the Shanghai -Hong Kong Standard.

Arena with increased threshold

Another core of the sweeping robot industry is the supply chain and production chain. In the context of the global unstable epidemic, the control of the entire industry chain is even more important to ensure supply. Self -built production capacity can ensure the supply of products and raw materials, but also bring reliable guarantees to the continuous iteration of the product, but also help cost control.

In July this year, Shito Technology announced its own plan to build capacity.

Stone Technology stated that there are four points for the purpose of self -construction capacity: 1. Extend the capacity of intelligent manufacturing, build high -company competition barriers; 2. Form strong support for the company's technological innovation; 3. Improve delivery capacity and rapid response ability; 4. Further further Enhance cost advantages and quality advantages.

The production capacity of technology companies has almost been imagined in the past. In the past few years, many companies have positioned high -tech companies, and their products generally choose outsourcing. They only do research and development and core parts.

The production capacity of stone technology has given the following reasons: 1. The self -built factories fit the opportunity of intelligent manufacturing trends and industrial 4.0; 2. The self -built manufacturing center can achieve rapid iteration and improve the flexibility of new product design and development; Realize the rapid response to market demand; 4. Improve controllability, stabilize product quality, and reduce costs.

A noteworthy phenomenon is that Xiaomi's ecological chain enterprises, such as the smart lock Luke Technology, have self -built manufacturing centers, and even Xiaomi has made smart factories.

The reason for this is that in the era of Industry 4.0, intelligent manufacturing has a lot of potential space, and it is worth doing it for technology companies. In addition, as the stone technology itself said, in addition to creating a competitive barrier, " "Integration of research and sales" can greatly reduce the communication costs of design and development and production, and improve the efficiency of product iteration innovation. Especially for the floor -to -floor robot industry, the product form has been constantly evolving. The self -built manufacturing center can greatly improve the efficiency of product creation and shorten the time of product launch.

At the moment when the epidemic is superimposed, the self -built manufacturing center can also ensure the supply chain and production capacity.

Cobos also has its own factory, and the stone technology self -built manufacturing center has made up for the manufacturing.

In the foreseeable future, the competition barriers in the sweeping robot industry have become higher and higher. If there is no enough capital investment, there will be no way to enter this game.

Stone and Cobos, the dispute between the route?

Chang Jing believes that product capabilities, quality capabilities, cost capabilities, efficiency capabilities, marketing capabilities, etc. are all basic capabilities, which can ensure the survival of the enterprise, but if you want to live well, you need to have sustainable innovation capabilities. This is the core ability. Essence He believes how to build sustainable innovation capabilities is the highest priority. The sweeping robot industry is in a high -speed development period, and the expansion space of product form and product functions is still very large. Although this track has enough players, the development of the product is far from shaped. The strategy of heavy investment in Stone Technology is in line with the industry development stage: it can ensure that the company always leads the development of the industry and avoids falling into the quagmire.

Heavy investment in research and development and self -built manufacturing centers is a strategic choice to ensure innovation and rapid iteration of products, and it is a strategic long -termism.

In the next stage, seizing the user's mind is the most important thing for the floor -to -clean robot industry. To realize the occupation of users' minds, one is to make marketing to make users visible; the other is to launch a product with better experience and let the product speak.

These two routes correspond to Cobos and Stone Technology. So, which route is the right route? In other words, which route will go further?

- END -