Forward-thinking fitness equipment suppliers Physical Company are celebrating their 25th Anniversary this month. Sales and marketing director John Halls offers an insight into the company’s progress over the last 25 years and what the future holds

As a company with a strong reputation in the industry, what would you say are the things your customers most associate with Physical Company?
Definitely our first rate customer service. A part of this service is to ensure we hold 99 per cent stock at any one time. When our customers need something quickly they know they can rely on us. In addition, our product range is unrivalled and variety and innovation has definitely become synonymous with Physical Company.

Your product range is a mix of own brand and licensed products. What do you look for when taking on a new licensed product?   
Firstly we look for genuine innovation. BOSU, which we’ve sold as the exclusive UK distribution partner since 2004, is the perfect example of an innovation that’s still being used today. We also insist upon a good education programme. Thirdly, quality is absolutely essential and we’ll always test a piece of kit to its limits before agreeing to take it on. Over the last 10 years we’ve brought some pretty exciting products to market in the UK. We maintain you won’t find a better piece of suspension training kit than the Human Trainer, nor a piece of equipment as versatile as Total Gym.

What would you say are your greatest achievements over the last 25 years?
Creating our own range of commercial fitness equipment in 2006 was our first big step towards commercial growth. Becoming a manufacturer in our own right was a long and challenging process, but it was the right decision and we haven’t looked back.

Over the last four years we’ve been increasing our product range to enable us to offer a complete fitness solution to major operators. We are now considered as a group-wide equipment supplier and are regularly invited to tender for multi-site contracts.

Any make or break moments?
Taking on Total Gym was a risk for us. It was a much higher value product than most of the items in our catalogue, but we could see its potential. Luckily, the risk paid off and over the last five years we’ve taken the Total Gym from relative obscurity in the UK to being on the gym floor of big operators like David Lloyd, Virgin Active and Everyone Active.

So what does the future hold?
The last two years have been focused on laying the foundations for the next product development cycle that will focus on function, quality and style.
Our rapidly increasing recognition as an industry-leading supplier of group fitness exercise equipment for major operators has allowed us to work towards 12 per cent growth every year for the next three years. With this rate of growth – you can certainly expect to see Physical Company in more and more multi-site operators.