Gallery: the art of communication

“Our sector went through a rough time when the financial world hit rock bottom in late 2008” says François Verlinden, director of Koraalberg, a contemporary art gallery in Antwerp. “The outlook has improved a little since then, but we’re still feeling the consequences of the recession.”

Sales at the gallery in the formerly decayed, now-trendy ’t Zuid district have never been lower than in the first half of 2009, despite customer interest in artworks staying the same. Koraalberg, in business now for nine years, has always emphasised the importance of the quality of the pieces and the close relationship between the artists and the gallery. This commitment and improving direct contact with customers – potential and returning – rather than relying on walkins are keeping the company aloft this year.

“We invested heavily in automating the contact management with our clients; keeping them informed on what is going on in the gallery became crucial. The internet is playing a growing role in this,” Verlinden explains. We made sure our website was professional and up to date and encouraged all of our artists to do the same.”

The image of the gallery and reputation of its artists are as critical when it comes to sales as what is actually hanging on the walls. “Nobody buys art without thinking it through, but knowing that what they are buying is quality convinces most buyers,” Verlinden adds. “After all, art is an investment, whether we’re in a recession or not.”

Koraalberg Gallery

Pourbusstraat 5, Antwerp

www.koraalberg.be

Shop: price matters

Local corner shops usually don’t have their own website. They don’t have a budget for advertising or weekly promotional brochures. So how do they communicate with their customers? The answer is simple and obvious: the corner shop is its own billboard.

“The visual aspect is crucial. How we arrange our fruit, vegetables and flowers outside will decide whether a passer-by will stop here for his grocery or walk a bit further to the big supermarket,” says Alexandre Vanderhofstadt, the owner of Joly-Frais in the Elsene district of Brussels. The family-owned shop is on a corner just off the ever-noisy Louizalaan. The bright colours and sweet smells have acted like a magnet in the middle of the busy traffic for the last 60 years .

Of course price matters, too – to the customer, but as much to the corner shop itself. Competing with big supermarkets is difficult. That’s why Joly-Frais offers its clients one fruit and one vegetable at an unbeatable price every day. “We still have a busy corner shop, but we do notice that people are more cautious about prices,” Vanderhofstadt explains. “Whereas before a customer would buy a bottle of expensive bubbly, he would now rather get two or more bottles of wine for the same price.”

Joly-Frais

Broussartstraat 121, Brussels

Restaurant: pay what you want

A Brussels brasserie, on the other hand, is going for the drastic “all or nothing” idea, allowing its customers to choose what they will pay for their meal.

A month ago, the owner of The Come Back in the Evere district took matters into his own hands to beat the crisis. By offering his clients the ability to pay whatever they wanted for their meals, he hopes to attract more customers. Although there are a smattering of restaurants in Europe and North America where this appealing strategy is the norm, there have been more cropping up lately – temporarily allowing customers to pay what they want in the face of the credit crisis.

Because people are too embarrased to risk underpaying, they usually overpay. Some restaurants are claiming to be making up to 30% more income.

Although, predictably, many colleagues from the restaurant sector thought he was crazy, Rudy Debruyne firmly believes he’s got it right. The Come Back only offers a three-course meal that you create from choices in the menu. Although its actual value is about €8, customers are paying an average of €15. “We once had a couple that only paid €5 for both of their meals,” says Debruyne. “It’s a risk we take, but luckily, that never happened again.”

Debruyne says that the new menu plan helps him cut costs in other ways: “It allows us to work with fresh, seasonal products from the market and avoid a waste of ingredients.”

Thanks to a lot of media attention, the concept is indeed bringing in more clientele. During the lunch hour, the brasserie is frequented by business people from the neighbouring offices, and dinner time brings the locals – and now the curious – to the tables. Business is so good, they recently added a kids’ menu.

Debruyne plans to carry on with the scheme until intereste begins to fade. But even then, he plans to keep the “pay what you want” for lunch, and offer a different menu for dinner with set prices.

After the success of the first month, the owner already has plans for the future: “We have a big garden that I would like to turn into an 80 square-meter terrace by next summer, and the façade could do with some upgrading, too. ”

The Come Back

Sint-Vincentiusstraat 106

www.thecomeback.overblog. com

Talk or be talked about

Make your product talk to the people (with or without the help of the internet), or make people talk about your product. That’s what these businesses all have in common, and that’s what keeps small businesses afloat during difficult times.

The recession made business owners reconsider their strategies and brought them back to the very essence of sales: excellent customer communications and the best possible presentation of your product. The Come Back’s strategy may seem like a gimmick – but if they keep it up, this little nondescript brasserie will get written up in every tourist book on Brussels.

Another thing these businesses all agree on: the economical revival can’t start soon enough.