Educational Resources Suppliers Hope and GLS Reveal Major Rebrands and Announce Product And Service Expansion Plans

Educational resources suppliers Hope Education (@HopeEducationUK) and GLS (@gls_education) have undergone major rebrands to enable the further expansion of the businesses’ product and service offers for educators and schools.

Ecommerce businesses Hope Education, which is now called Hope, and GLS provide resources for primary school, secondary school and early years teaching, and school business managers, respectively.

At the same time, Findel, the owner of Hope and GLS, has announced it will be actively expanding Hope and GLS’s product ranges and service offers during 2022.

Findel’s origins as an educational resources supplier can be traced back to 1817. Today, its brands and websites offer more than 32,000products to educators and parents based in the UK and overseas with the business exporting to 130 countries.

Headquartered in Hyde, Greater Manchester, the company also has a distribution centre and offices in Nottingham and employs around 300 people.

Findel was acquired in April last year from Studio Retail Group plc following a management buy-out (MBO) supported by private equity firm Endless. Findel has also announced a corporate rebrand of its own and will be actively expanding its service offer during 2022 through new initiatives and acquisitions of complementary education sector businesses.

Chris Mahady, Findel’s chief executive, said:

“Since the MBO, independent ownership has allowed us to shape the business as we want and begin to realise its full potential.

“The rebrand project is a critical element of achieving that goal and it heralds a bright new dawn for Findel, Hope and GLS. This was not simply about refreshing some logos, it was about undertaking a thorough strategic review of Findel, Hope and GLS over a six-month period.

“We now have a new strategy, vision and direction that will drive us towards becoming a highly successful, multi-faceted, national and international education resources business and a trusted and valued partner to our customers.”

Hope is a brand dedicated to supporting people who nurture young minds, helping them pass on vital knowledge, build confidence and fuel children’s imaginations and enrich their futures.

Hope aims to put everything these educators need in one place to help those who stand in front of children every day to inspire future generations. This sentiment and service is expressed by Hope’s new brand positioning line of ‘Hope is all you need.’

A brand specifically created for school business managers, GLS understands how its customers work, what they need and why it matters. Whether it is future planning or restocking, the GLS team’s in-depth knowledge makes things easy for school business managers.

With a huge range in one place, great service and good value a given, with GLS it’s sorted. This service is distilled by GLS’s new brand positioning line of ‘Schools. We get you.’

Chris continued: “What we have done has energised and inspired everyone at the company. Colleagues now fully understand our business and brands and, most importantly, what they mean to our Hope and GLS customers. It has given us collective purpose, clarity and strength about who we are and what we do.

“This will play a huge role in the delivery of our expansion plans for Hope and GLS as we launch new initiatives, products and services to achieve our ambitious growth plans for the benefit of educators worldwide.”

Since the MBO, and in addition to the rebrand project, Findel has implemented a multi-million pound investment programme.

This includes recruiting 30 more people to cope with increased demand in key areas such as technology and digital marketing, transforming the office accommodation in Hyde and Nottingham and developing new digital and ecommerce technologies alongside a new inventory management system.

At the same time, the business has continued to improve customer experience and distribution centre systems to meet new customer requirements whilst supporting overall growth.

For more information visit www.hope-education.co.uk or www.glsed.co.uk