The stone floor sweeper scratched the floor and was ordered to pay 2,000 yuan in compensation.

Recently, a ruling from the Beijing Internet Court has put ShiTou Technology, a leading robotic vacuum brand, into the spotlight. The company’s products have a quality defect that causes scratches on floors, drawing market attention. On March 31, a reporter searched the “ShiTou Technology” keyword on the Black Cat Complaints platform 【download the Black Cat Complaints client】. The cumulative number of complaints reached 2,372. In addition to reports that ShiTou robotic vacuums scratch floors, users also reported frequent device malfunctions, “constantly breaking and constantly needing repair,” and other issues.

The reporter noted that at the peak of ShiTou Technology’s stock price, it was approaching 1,500 yuan per share, with a market value of nearly one trillion yuan, earning it the nickname “robot vacuum Maotai.” As of the close on March 31, it was 119.98 yuan per share, with a total market capitalization of 11.95B yuan; over 60 billion yuan in value was wiped out.

■ Xinqi News Reporter Tu Bo

ShiTou Technology was ordered to pay 2,000 yuan in compensation

According to media reports, in 2024 Mr. Dai bought a ShiTou robotic vacuum for his new home. He expected it would free up his hands, but soon discovered that the surface of the home’s ceramic tiles had many circular scratch marks. Mr. Dai suspected the scratches were caused by the “rotating-work” robotic vacuum. In response to Mr. Dai’s questioning, ShiTou Technology’s customer service denied the issue, saying the product had undergone “strict testing.”

With no on-site inspection and the claims being put on hold, to collect evidence, Mr. Dai followed the robotic vacuum and filmed its working scenes. The longest continuous filming lasted up to 47 minutes.

On July 18, 2024, Mr. Dai formally filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Internet Court, requesting ShiTou Technology to assume, according to law, the loss of repairing the floor tiles. The dispute between the two sides centered on “whether the tile scratches were caused by the robot” and “whether the product has defects.” Ultimately, in the first-instance ruling, the Beijing Internet Court ordered ShiTou Technology to compensate Mr. Dai 2,000 yuan. ShiTou Technology withdrew its appeal in the second instance.

On platforms such as Xiaohongshu, when the reporter searched keywords such as “ShiTou robotic vacuum scratching,” they saw posts in which netizens said, “We just moved into the new apartment, and after sweeping, there were scratches more than one meter long—absolutely crushing.” On the Black Cat Complaints platform, when the reporter searched “ShiTou Technology,” they not only saw posts about robotic vacuums, but also many reports that ShiTou washing machines leak water, ShiTou floor-washing machines have poor quality, and even after repeated repairs, issues still persist.

Yesterday, the reporter called ShiTou Technology regarding the related issues. The company said: “Because we currently have a large output of company goods, there may be some problems to a certain extent. We now have an after-sales service big model to improve the customer after-sales experience. Based on evaluations from third-party platforms, the reputation is still pretty good.” Regarding the platforms mentioned by the other side, such as Amazon and JD.com, the reporter found that for ShiTou Technology’s official flagship stores, approval rates for mainstream models are above 85%.

More revenue but not more profit

In February 2020, ShiTou Technology, which listed on the STAR Market as the “first robotic vacuum stock,” attracted financing from Gopher Capital and Qiming Venture Partners right from its inception. The offering price was 271.1 yuan per share. In June 2021, the stock price peaked at 1,494.99 yuan per share, with a market capitalization approaching one trillion yuan. It was second only to Guizhou Moutai, so ShiTou Technology earned the “robot vacuum Maotai” title in the STAR Market sector. But after “taking the top,” ShiTou Technology’s stock price kept falling.

In addition, after listing, the pattern of “more revenue but not more profit” became a distinctive feature of ShiTou Technology. In 2024, revenue increased by 38% year over year to 1.98B yuan, while the net profit attributable to shareholders fell by 3.64% year over year to 18.62B yuan. The 2025 performance quick report shows that revenue increased sharply by 55.85% year over year to 1.36B yuan, but net profit attributable to shareholders decreased by 31.19% year over year to 559M yuan.

As a “hard-tech” company, since listing, ShiTou Technology’s selling expenses and R&D expenses have both shown a year-by-year upward trend, but the gap between their growth rates has continued to widen. Selling expenses rose rapidly from 2.97B yuan in 2020 to 263M yuan in 2024. Over the same period, R&D expenses increased from 971M yuan to 0.971 billion yuan. Moreover, the R&D investment expense rate was under 10%, far lower than the selling expense rate—leading to market skepticism about “heavy marketing and light R&D.” Regarding this phenomenon, ShiTou Technology told reporters that due to heavy market competition pressure and the expansion of new markets, its marketing expenses increased accordingly.

The reporter also noted that in March, an investor asked on the SSE E-interaction platform: “The company’s 2025 performance severely underperformed compared with the expectations at the beginning of the year. It increased revenue but not profit. Can you tell whether there will be any punishment for the relevant responsible people and whether there are improvement plans, since we saw Covos overtake you on the curve.” ShiTou Technology said that the fluctuations in short-term profit are a stage-specific phenomenon during the company’s global strategy investment and product structure upgrade period. It is a normal adjustment within an active strategic layout.

Executive share sales to cash out exceed 8 billion yuan

After ShiTou Technology went public, shareholder share reductions continued to be frequent and concentrated, covering the actual controller, the Xiaomi-related segment, venture capital, and executives. The actual controller, Chang Jing, reduced holdings twice in 2023–2024, cashing out about 888 million yuan, with its shareholding falling from 23% to 21%. The Xiaomi-related segment, including Shunwei Capital and Jinmi Investment, continued to reduce holdings; Shunwei has already exited the top ten shareholders. It is understood that as of the end of 2024, among the top ten shareholders, 4 had reduced their holdings. The co-founder, Mao Guohua, and ShiTou Times also reduced holdings. Together with sporadic reductions by directors, supervisors, and senior management, overall it shows a high overlap between early investors and core shareholders continuously exiting and the company’s phase of “increasing revenue but not profit.”

Once its market value was nearly one trillion yuan, in less than two years it was left with only a bit over 30 billion yuan. During that period, major shareholders and directors, supervisors, and senior management reduced holdings intensively at high levels, with total cashing out exceeding 8 billion yuan.