Roger Black Fitness Has Partnered with Pure-Tec Logistics

Why Roger Black Fitness has partnered up with Pure-Tec Logistics by Roger Black MBE

When I launched Roger Black Fitness within the e-commerce space last year for the first time, I was excited, nervous and hoped that we would sell out of stock quickly, given the established market presence. Having worked with Argos for 15 years under an exclusive UK license, I hadn’t been directly involved with the nuts and bolts of the business. I was looking on, from the outside in.

Roll forward to May 2021 when we launched Roger Black Fitness– “we” being myself and a very small team of committed and passionate individuals, the reality of launching a quasi-start-up with my name on not only was a super-steep learning curve but also a baptism of fitness fire – a learning curve that keeps on growing, in a good way. 

When the first ranges launched at Argos nearly two decades ago, the power-house that is the Argos name leveraged their good name via their trusted Argos catalogue and old-school advertising campaigns. Since that time, the whole premise of marketing has catapulted and is an ever-changing and fast-paced competitive landscape, especially with the advent of social media. It doesn’t matter if you are well known – you need to do the work to attract the right customers and make them trust you.

From a logistics’ point of view, I realise now how vulnerable we were as a brand, at the time of launch. We were possibly ‘one phone call away’, at any given point – one call away from a delivery company or freight firm terminating the agreement, for example, and the whole supply chain is broken. So, I had to take action: whilst on the marketing and customer service side, we are strong and know our audience, the logistics and freight business is specialised and also somewhat precarious, especially in a post-Covid world.

I reached out to the Managing Director of Pure-Tec and exercise.co.uk, David Gilson, having been aware of the brands because of my involvement with Cystic Fibrosis Trust. We connected and could see there were natural synergies, opportunities and a definite win:win situation on the horizon. For a former professional athlete, winning is always high on the agenda, albeit for the entire, extended team.

Finding a Common Ground

David and I have got to know one another through a common goal and mutual respect. The Pure-Tec and exercise.co.uk names have become synonymous with resilient logistics and as a valued e-tailer within the fitness space. Roll forward to summer 2022 and we are now ‘officially partnered’ with Pure-Tec – they manage all of our deliveries, returns, warehousing, logistics, parts, shipping and post-sale customer service.

From a sales perspective, Pure-Tec is managing the Roger Black Fitness Amazon account and is selling the full range via www.exercise.co.uk. #TeamRBF is still here though, running the website, third-party working relationships with the likes of www.QVC.com and www.Vivup.co.uk; as well as regular niche advertising campaigns to our 50+ customer based audience, ongoing pre-sale customer service, social media management and keeping the business cogs turning. From my perspective, I feel much more confident that with Pure-Tec by our side, we can stride into winter as a more robust brand, able to weather the storm.