Secretlab opens first experience store in Los Angeles, targets S$500 million in global revenue

[SINGAPORE] Secretlab is taking its products into US stores for the first time, as the Singapore-founded chair and desk maker sets its sights on S$500 million in global revenue.

The company – established in 2015 and best known for its gaming chairs – opened its first overseas experience store in Los Angeles on Friday (Nov 13). It is also setting up a collaboration with retail giant Best Buy to set up displays in 15 stores in nine states.

The S$500 million target is about 35 per cent higher than Secretlab’s FY2024 revenue of S$370.7 million for the year ended February 2024. It made S$34.7 million in profit that same year, according to data from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority seen by The Business Times.

Its FY2025 and FY2026 accounts were not filed in the records.

Secretlab said that it has sold S$2.5 billion worth of products worldwide since it started 11 years ago, with North America contributing half of its global revenue. The company revealed that it has more than three million users around the world.

Singapore shows significance of physical retail

Even without a physical store there, the US is already Secretlab’s largest market, said Ian Ang, co-founder and CEO of Secretlab, in an exclusive interview with BT.

In comparison, Singapore – the only country in which Secretlab has a physical presence – accounts for less than 2 per cent of revenue.

For Secretlab, the US is around “30 times the size of Singapore”, he noted.

Yet, Singapore is where the brand reaches furthest.

Among all its markets, Singapore has the “highest saturation by far”, Ang pointed out, adding that the reach extends far beyond gamers, with some law firms and even clinics using Secretlab chairs in their offices.

This is less common overseas, he said.

He measures saturation in what he describes as a “very layman way”: Secretlab sales in a country against its gross domestic product, adjusted for income levels.

Ang posits the reason why Singapore has such a high saturation rate is because of its retail presence. Having a physical presence will allow potential buyers to try and experience the products, he felt. “You need to experience it in order to really appreciate how good the product is.”

Beyond its experience centre located in Braddell, Secretlab has also participated in four to six IT shows in Singapore annually over the past decade, noted Ang.

Not a stranger to the US

The US is a familiar market for Secretlab. The brand has established a following among gamers in the world’s largest economy by sponsoring top global gaming teams.

The company has also established a physical presence through pop-up booths at gaming tournaments and events.

Ang noted that Secretlab held back from opening a brick-and-mortar store in the US earlier because of the lack of variety in its product line. “The store might look bare,” he said.

Now, in addition to a wider range of designs among its chairs, Secretlab has also added tables and other desktop accessories to its product line. This could lift how much each customer spends, explained Ang.

Criteria for success

For the big overseas push to work, the sales in the US have to pass two tests, Ang pointed out.

First, it must pay for itself. “We are not a VC (venture capital)-backed company, so we need to make sure that whatever we do, the returns are definitely there,” he said. “A lot of retail initiatives lose money… You cannot just lose money. How much are you losing relative to how much you are potentially gaining?”

Asked how the expansion will be funded, Ang pointed to the company’s “financial discipline”, but he did not name a source of funds.

The second test is scale. This means that the sales have to pick up across the country, not just in specific states.

“In Singapore you can have one store, and it kind of covers the whole country,” explained Ang. In the US, meanwhile, “we want to make sure we can scale it across the whole nation”.

That is where Best Buy comes in. Secretlab is starting with 15 stores, and executives at both companies want “many, many more” if the tie-up works for both sides, said Ang.

However, working with Best Buy will pose a new set of challenges for the company, as it is the first time Secretlab has directly worked with a retailer. Secretlab has mostly sold online, directly to customers.

This collaboration with Best Buy means that the company will need to adopt “quite a different skill set” when it comes to managing this relationship with Best Buy, said Ang.

Still, it is not taking the collaboration lightly.

Ang noted that the retailer will serve as a sales channel, while the new experience store at West Hollywood in Los Angeles will focus on giving customers the experience.

The company chose Los Angeles as the location for its first experience centre as it is among the US cities where it has the best sales; it also has high density and the team is familiar with the location.

“You got to work with what you have… it cannot be too idealistic,” added Ang.

Not a small challenge

“The US market is very tough, especially today,” he said. Cracking it will be even more difficult than what it was 10 years ago.

States run differently, with “different rules, different values”, so you can’t run it “the way you run Singapore, where it’s just one city”, he noted.

Moreover, sales in the US are spread thin, meaning that no single city carries the market. “The US is truly very spread out, at least for us,” Ang added.

Asked about his biggest concern for the market, he replied that it used to be the “chaos in the US”, but he is less worried now, as the equipment manufacturer has diversified its supply chain to address the tariff issues.

As Secretlab seeks to expand its footprint in North America, Ang is not ruling out expansions in other parts of the world. About two months ago, the company launched sales in China through local partners, with “a few more markets” to follow.

Still, retail is not where Ang spends most of his time. He believes that the R&D of Secretlab products is what sets it apart from competitors. “We exist not because of retail or whatever. It’s because of the product.”