Robot Reviews

As another example of retailers offering huge discounts in order to entice wary holiday shoppers, Amazon is selling a Brand New, oddly colored Roomba 400 for only $69.99 with Free Delivery today. (Edit: Currently SOLD OUT), And iRobot is offering 3 Robots under $100 and Free overnight shipping on orders over $150! (Expired 12/25/08)

Historically speaking, there has never been any model of Roomba from any generation, even going back to the original Roomba in 2002 that has sold at this price brand new at retail.  Even iRobot is promoting three different model Robots below the magic $100 price mark, with the Looj 120 Gutter Cleaning Robot seemingly being liquidated at only $69.99.

Current indicators here at Robot Reviews suggest that in a huge reversal, consumer purchasing is trending towards these heavily discounted entry level models during the fourth quarter, as opposed to the higher end models that have historically outsold the entry level models during the holiday shopping season by a fairly wide margin. 

It's still unclear whether the current round of promotions will be successful in prodding consumers to start opening their purse strings, but for now it would seem that with just a little over 2 weeks left in the holiday shopping season, retailers are still struggling to find ways to get consumers to start spending again.