Company Introduction
Established in 2011 in Kuala Lumpur, ILLEGEAR is Malaysia’s first custom laptop brand which played a pivotal role in shaping the custom laptop and gaming computer landscape in Malaysia. Initially specialising in customised gaming laptops, the ILLEGEAR brand has grown and evolved progressively over the years and is today a multiaward winning brand and recognised as one of the leading players in Malaysia’s high-performance computing sector. ILLEGEAR’s range of products include customised high-performance gaming laptops, professional laptops, desktops, gears such as monitors and mouse as well as other premium collectibles and peripherals.Vision: To redefine the role computer systems play in human life.
Mission: To continuously and consistently offer unbeatable performance and quality, exceptional service and expertly thoughtout customisation options to customers.
Core Values:
Passion: They are computer geeks and hardware junkies ourselves. They feel what you feel as a gamer, creator or extreme user. They understand. They live and breathe this.
Performance: Performance is the lifeblood of everything they create. Your ILLEGEAR system will accomplish what you want it to accomplish, and more.
Perfection: They don’t stop at good or great. They continuously challenge themselves to create the ultimate system for their customer. They aim for perfection.
Corporate Culture
ILLEGEAR started at a fast pace and has since continued to build on that momentum, going even faster, in more directions, scaling and introducing new innovative approaches in the process. One such instance is an operational approach known as One-streaming devised by founder Chin. Through One-streaming, both upstream and downstream business activities are innovatively unified into one single stream.To accomplish this, the ILLEGEAR team works closely with suppliers and partners to ensure top-down processes flow smoothly and efficiently, and they engage only like-minded expert engineers and passionate computer geeks to ensure down-and-outgoing processes which will finally reach the customers are executed to perfection.
Engineered for One.
From a humble one-man operation in 2011, ILLEGEAR has grown tremendously as an organisation and today employs over 30 professionals and serves over 16,000 customers annually.
Growth Initiatives
ILLEGEAR’s timeline spans only 9 years. The milestones they have accomplished, however, may make it appear like it has been much more than 9 years. Since its founding until Q2 of 2020, the company unlocks an average of 1.7 new major milestones every year, mostly in the form of winning prestigious accolades and awards.Keeping a close eye on changing market trends and listening to customer feedbacks form an essential part of ILLEGEAR’s growth strategy. ILLEGEAR is often noted as among the fastest to introduce the latest components, specs and features. ILLEGEAR rolls out a new laptop, desktop or gear on a monthly basis, sometimes quicker, to better meet customer preferences.
One of the biggest challenges faced by ILLEGEAR was redefining the masses’ perception about customising a system. In 2011 in Malaysia, when most systems available were ready-made and massproduced, few saw the need or value in customising. The team had to create awareness, educate and guide every prospect before they could even make the first sale. Despite running on limited resources, ILLEGEAR successfully carved out this new niche by consistently providing insightful product information, attentive service and outstanding quality at every customer touchpoint.
Achievements and Impact
From a one-man operation in 2011, ILLEGEAR moved to its first 700 square feet shop lot in 2014, joined by a small pioneer team. From that point onwards, ILLEGEAR continued to grow consistently and today employs 37 professionals, operates spacious showrooms in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, and serves over 16,000 customers annually.The rapid growth is also reflected in ILLEGEAR’s balance sheets, with the company’s annual turnover going from RM10 million in 2018 to RM19 million in 2019. Despite the global uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has proved to be ILLEGEAR’s breakthrough year. ILLEGEAR’s 2020 turnover as of 3Q has already breached the RM22 million mark and the company is well on course for a record-breaking closing of 2020.
The company’s strategy for sustainable growth is more growth. To be precise, scaled, well-managed and brand-aligned growth. The key to accomplishing this is a hands-on approach by the founder Chin himself when it comes to strategic planning and employee recruitment. This ensures every major move forward ILLEGEAR makes as an organisation is aligned with the company’s long-term vision.
Future Direction
Moving forward, founder Chin envisions ILLEGEAR expanding its horizons beyond Malaysia, with more branches established in neighbouring countries. Chin intends to continuously enhance the current ILLEGEAR business model, but with its identity and core competencies retained.COMPANY MILESTONES
