Retail & horeca sector: diagnose your business!
Have you ever wondered if your business is up to date when it comes to communication? Or if your interior design was a hit with your customers? Or how could the sustainable aspects of your restaurant be improved? It’s time to take a health check of your business!
While there are many tools available for starting a business in the retail or horeca sector in Brussels, there are far fewer tools available for those already established. Yet, they too are faced with daily challenges and must be resilient in order to adapt to the constant changes characterised by their line of business. The lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 and the surge in energy prices are proof of this.
This is why hub.brussels has launched a new self-diagnosis platform. Designed for businesses, restaurants, cafés and bars in Brussels, it offers entrepreneurs in these sectors a wide range of advice adapted to their situation.
A platform devoted to established shops & hospitality establishments
The objective of retail.brussels is to allow retailers to take a step back and assess themselves on a particular theme, if and when they have the time. On the programme? A complete check-up of the state of health of your business as well as tools to help you give it a new lease of life if necessary.
The advice provided on the platform is adapted to the respondent’s situation based on his/her answers to the thematic questionnaire. If the retailer wants, coaches from the hub.brussels Retail team can help him/her complete the assessment and can offer an individual and even more personalised approach.
In practice?
The principle is simple: any person who wishes to do so can access www.retail.brussels in their own time, select the theme that interests them, complete the questionnaire and then access recommendations in line with their needs.
Five themes are currently available:
- “my communication”,
- “my positioning”,
- “my online sales”,
- “my layout” and
- “my sustainability”.
With the exception of the “my layout” theme, which is only available for the retail/food sector, each theme is open to both retailers and restaurants/cafés/bars.
New to digital technology? No problem!
You don’t have access to a computer or an Internet connection? The platform is accessible on mobile (smartphone or tablet), meaning that you can complete the questionnaire regardless of where you are and at any time of the day. The results are then sent by e-mail so that they can be consulted afterwards.
Finally, if none of these suggestions are available to the retailer, the questionnaire can be completed during an appointment with a coach from the hub.brussels Retail team.
By the end of the year, the goal is to add four more themes. Don’t hesitate to let us know what you need, we’ll make sure our experts get to work on it!
The origin of the project
The self-diagnosis platform comes from the Resilient Retail for Brussels (REREB) project. Four priority pilot projects were defined: among them, the promotion of business self-diagnosis. The project ended in 2020, and self-diagnosis was identified by hub.brussels as a priority project for established retailers.
The hub.brussels Retail team
Through its Retail team, hub.brussels, supports retailers in the launch and development of their project. Specific support programs for start-ups are also available via the L’Auberge Espagnole business incubators, the Kokotte food incubator, and the ideas incubator.
