The blog for smart businesspeople
Monday, 26 October 2026
That's Christmas 365: Book Your Christmas Meals Now. Before It's Too Late!
That's Christmas 365: Book Your Christmas Meals Now. Before It's Too Late!: Christmas might still seem a little way off, but if you're planning a festive meal with family, friends or work colleagues, there's ...
"Don't Shop Here! Go Online and Buy It!” Why Retailers Could Be Driving Customers Straight Into the Arms of Their Competitors
At first glance, this might seem perfectly reasonable advice. After all, online shopping has become an integral part of modern retailing.
But there's a fundamental flaw in this approach, and it's one that could be costing retailers thousands, potentially millions, of pounds in lost sales.
Once you tell a customer to go online, you've lost control of where they spend their money.
Consider the situation. A customer visits a shop looking for a particular product. They have already demonstrated their willingness to buy from that retailer by making the effort to visit the premises.
However, rather than securing the sale, the assistant suggests buying online, instead.
What happens next?
The customer takes out their smartphone, searches for the product and discovers that Amazon, eBay or a competing retailer offers the same item, possibly at a lower price and with next-day delivery.
Suddenly, the original retailer has lost the sale, despite having done the hard work of attracting the customer into the shop.
Worse still, the customer might discover an alternative retailer they prefer and never return.
The Customer Is Already There. Why Let Them Escape?
Retailers spend enormous sums on advertising, marketing, attractive window displays and maintaining physical premises, all designed to encourage customers through their doors.
Yet some businesses seem remarkably willing to let those potential sales walk straight back out again.
Surely a better approach would be to empower shop assistants to complete online orders on behalf of customers?
Imagine the difference if, instead of saying “You'll have to go online,” the assistant responded: “We don't have that particular item here today, but I can order it for you now and arrange delivery to your home or collection from this shop.”
That simple change transforms a potential lost sale into a completed transaction.
It also demonstrates genuine customer service.
Not Everyone Wants to Shop Online
Another consideration is that some customers deliberately choose physical shops because they prefer personal interaction, want advice or simply don't enjoy navigating websites.
Others may have accessibility difficulties, limited internet access or concerns about online payments.
Telling these customers to go online effectively communicates that their business is less welcome unless they are prepared to do the retailer's work themselves.
That is hardly a recipe for building customer loyalty.
Retail Staff Need the Right Tools
This isn't necessarily the fault of shop assistants. Many are working within systems and policies established by head offices.
If staff cannot access online stock, arrange deliveries or process orders for unavailable products, they have few alternatives.
Retail management should therefore consider equipping employees with systems that connect physical shops with online inventory.
Such arrangements can also help preserve the importance of the high street while allowing retailers to benefit from their wider distribution networks.
There is another advantage: a customer who receives helpful service is considerably more likely to remember the experience positively.
The Amazon Factor
Amazon has built much of its success around convenience, availability and straightforward purchasing.
Why would any high street retailer voluntarily encourage customers to enter an environment where Amazon is only a click away?
Once shoppers begin comparing prices online, the original retailer loses one of its greatest competitive advantages: the personal relationship established during the shop visit.
The customer may even find a better deal without having to leave home again.
Every Customer Through the Door Represents an Opportunity
Successful retailing isn't simply about displaying products on shelves. It's about recognising opportunities, solving customers' problems and making purchases as straightforward as possible.
Of course, there will always be occasions when a product cannot be supplied. But that should be the exception rather than an automatic invitation to search the internet.
Retailers need to remember that the customer standing in front of their assistant has already made a choice about where they would like to spend their money.
The challenge is to make sure they complete that purchase before somebody else gets the opportunity.
Because in today's fiercely competitive retail environment, telling someone to “go online” might be the most expensive piece of customer service advice a business can give.
And the ultimate beneficiary could be Amazon, rather than the shop that attracted the customer in the first place.
Saturday, 24 October 2026
What Can Ancient Chinese Poetry Teach Today’s Business Leaders?
What it often lacks is time to stop, think and consider whether a different perspective might produce a better answer.
A book from LID Publishing invites managers to find that perspective in an unexpected place: classical Chinese poetry.
Verses of Wisdom, by Dr Catherine Hua Xiang and Zhining Xu, connects 25 centuries of literary wisdom with the challenges facing contemporary business leaders. Its central proposition is that reflections on human nature can offer valuable guidance for those responsible for people, decisions and organisational direction.
Drawing particularly on poetry from the Tang Dynasty, which lasted from 618 to 907 CE, and the Song Dynasty, from 960 to 1279 CE, the authors explore themes that remain recognisable across centuries and cultures.
Self-improvement, resilience, difficult choices and the search for meaning are hardly historical curiosities. They are everyday concerns for anyone trying to build a business, support colleagues or lead through uncertainty.
The book encourages readers to approach leadership with curiosity, considering how achievement and purpose, commercial results and human relationships can work together.
Crucially, readers do not need to speak Chinese or have studied Eastern philosophy to engage with its ideas. The invitation is to consider what another culture’s literary heritage might reveal about familiar professional challenges.
For managers accustomed to dashboards and performance indicators, that could provide a useful opportunity for reflection. Figures can identify a problem, but understanding the people behind those figures often requires patience, empathy and judgement.
Advance endorsements suggest the approach has struck a chord with experienced business figures. Sir Tom Troubridge praises its introduction of Chinese poetry to Western business leaders, while Brompton Bicycle chief executive Will Butler-Adams welcomes its combination of ancient verse and stories from successful contemporary businesses.
Verses of Wisdom is the third title in LID Publishing’s Navigating China series, which aims to deepen readers’ understanding of China and its relevance to leadership and business practice.
For That’s Business readers, its appeal lies in the opportunity to broaden the sources from which leadership lessons are drawn. Useful insights can emerge from literature and cultural traditions as readily as from the latest management discussion.
At a time when every working minute seems accounted for, making room for thoughtful reading may feel difficult. This book offers leaders a reason to put reflection back into the diary—and see what follows.
Wednesday, 21 October 2026
Nigel Barnett Buys Back TalkTalk’s Stake in TAL Group
The buyback was planned over 18 months, with both companies working together to reach an agreed outcome.
During TalkTalk’s involvement, TAL Group doubled in size and now serves more than 80,000 customers every month.
Barnett said the opportunity was different from what he had expected four years ago, but one he could not miss. He also praised his daughter, Sasha Barnett, who has taken the reins of the residential business.
“I’m incredibly proud of my daughter, Sasha Barnett, who shows the same passion for the residential business that I’ve always had,” he said. Barnett added that, after working in the business-to-business sector with Global 4, he had found the residential market “refreshing and fast-moving”. He thanked TalkTalk for its support over the past four years.
Home services for people moving house
Home Telecom, one of TAL Group’s leading brands, receives more than 30,000 introductions each month from people moving home across the UK. With energy and Sky TV added to its offering, the brand aims to provide movers with a wider package of home services.
The group’s growth has come through both organic expansion and acquisitions. Before and during TalkTalk’s involvement, TAL Group acquired 17 residential broadband customer bases. It says further deals are in the pipeline, with several hoped to be completed before Christmas.
A round-the-clock service
TAL Group moved to new premises in Horsham, West Sussex, in September 2025. It now employs more than 100 people, working both from its office and from home across the UK.
The company says it is among the few residential broadband suppliers to provide a 24-hour service, 365 days a year. Its service has received more than 20,000 reviews on Trustpilot, where it has a 4.7 rating.
TAL Group also offers a postcode checker covering the major broadband networks and larger alternative network operators. This enables homeowners to compare services available at their address in one search.
The group comprises Home Telecom, Fleur Telecom, Eclipse Broadband and EZE Talk Residential. It also serves customers from a number of other providers, including Bulldog Broadband, Cuckoo, Gigabit Networks, Link Broadband and Origin, under its trading brands.
Barnett’s repurchase returns the majority shareholding to TAL Group’s leadership as the company continues to pursue growth in the UK residential broadband market.
Solvent company liquidations have surged around tax deadlines, research finds
The findings come as businesses look ahead to the Autumn Budget on 28 October, amid speculation about possible Capital Gains Tax changes and further reforms to Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR).
The research suggests that known deadlines can prompt shareholders to bring forward decisions about closing solvent companies, though it cannot establish why individuals acted when they did.
Licensed insolvency practitioners Clarke Bell analysed 21,839 Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) resolutions recorded between January 2024 and September 2026. MVLs allow solvent companies to be wound up, with remaining funds distributed to shareholders.
The study found the three highest monthly totals occurred ahead of the 2024 Autumn Budget or BADR tax increases. In October 2024, there were 2,760 resolutions, including 1,092 in the five working days before the Budget.
In April 2025, as the BADR tax rate rose from 10% to 14%, activity in the final five working days reached 6.83 times the January daily average, with 604 resolutions recorded. A year later, ahead of a further increase from 14% to 18%, 673 resolutions were recorded in the final five working days. In each case, activity fell by 93–94% over the five working days immediately after the deadline.
Clarke Bell’s Senior Partner, John Bell, said the pattern was consistent ahead of all three events, with activity concentrated in the final few working days before falling sharply afterwards. He added that the figures could not explain individual shareholders’ motivations, but that the timing was difficult to ignore.
The researchers also compared the figures with other periods to test whether seasonality might explain the peaks. Activity before the 2024 Budget was 3.38 times its usual level, with no comparable increase in 2023. The April 2025 and 2026 spikes were also substantially higher than in April 2024, when BADR did not change.
Jason Piper, Head of Tax and Business Law – Policy and Insights at ACCA, told That's Businesses that tax reform timetables inevitably influence behaviour.
While the figures cannot prove people’s reasons, he said they suggest tax can be a factor in the timing of decisions.
The latest figures show solvent liquidation activity also rose through summer 2026, from 11.5 resolutions per working day in May to a provisional 22.0 in September.
With the Budget approaching, the previous peaks highlight how strongly activity has gathered around fiscal deadlines. Whether that pattern will be repeated remains to be seen.
Tuesday, 20 October 2026
That's Health: UKHCA conference to focus on protecting hearing in...
That's Health: UKHCA conference to focus on protecting hearing in...: The changing ways we work, listen to music and experience noise will be at the heart of the UK Hearing Conservation Association’s (UKHCA) an...
Bunta Beer founder shortlisted for Entrepreneur of the Year
The nomination recognises Gunikka’s ambition to bring a fresh perspective to the UK beer industry.
She founded Bunta in 2025 after leaving a successful career at Adidas in Los Angeles, where she worked in textile innovation.
Inspired by her Indian heritage and Britain’s much-loved “curry and a pint” tradition, Gunikka saw an opportunity to create a beer designed to complement Indian food. Bunta’s flagship citrus lager is brewed with orange peel and coriander seed. At 0.5% ABV, it is light, crisp and refreshing, and is also gluten-free and vegan.
Since launching, Bunta Beer has secured more than 100 listings across the UK, including more than 40 restaurants. Its venues include acclaimed restaurants Kricket, Jikoni, Pahli Hill and Bombay Bustle, as well as the Royal Albert Hall, Novotel, The Gladstone Arms and East West Pizza.
The brand’s first draught listing was at The Latimer in Notting Hill. Bunta is now poured at 60 accounts across London, with a distribution partnership with Champers Drinks supporting further growth in the capital and South East.
The company reports 40% year-on-year growth, as interest grows in premium alcohol-free beers made with food and flavour in mind. For Gunikka, winning the confidence of respected hospitality operators has helped show that diners are looking for more thoughtful choices than a standard alcohol-free lager.
Her plans reach beyond the beer, too. Drawing on her textile innovation background, she is developing Buntatex™, a concept exploring how brewing by-products could be turned into biodegradable textiles and packaging.
Gunikka said: “I started Bunta Beer because I saw an opportunity to create something different, a beer that celebrates my Indian heritage while bringing a fresh perspective to the UK drinks industry.
“Seeing Bunta listed in restaurants, pubs and hospitality venues across the country has been one of the most rewarding parts. It’s exciting to see operators embracing a different approach to alcohol-free beer, one that’s focused on flavour, food and the overall drinking experience.”
The Women in Beer Awards celebrate women’s achievements across the brewing and beer industries. The 2026 winners are due to be announced at the awards ceremony on 20 October.
Founded in 2025, Bunta Beer is on a mission to rethink how beer can pair with Indian food. Find out more at buntabeer.com.
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