Business
What UK SMEs can learn from gaming about making decisions easier
Most small businesses do not lose customers because their product is impossible to understand. They lose them because the first few minutes feel harder than they should.
A visitor lands on a website, sees too many options, cannot work out the next step and leaves. The same thing happens in shops, apps, subscription services and even B2B sales. People do not always reject an offer because it is poor. Sometimes they simply run out of patience before they understand its value.
Gaming businesses have spent years dealing with this problem. They know that a player who feels confused in the opening minutes may never return. The lesson for UK SMEs is not to turn every product into a game. It is to make the path from interest to action clearer.
The first few minutes matter more than most businesses admit
A game has a limited window to explain itself. Players need to understand the controls, the purpose and the reward for continuing. If the introduction gives them too much information at once, they stop. If it gives them too little, they do not know what to do.
The same principle applies to a business website. A homepage should answer three basic questions quickly:
- What does this business offer?
- Who is it for?
- What should I do next?
Many SMEs make this harder by trying to say everything at once. They use long introductions, several competing calls to action and broad claims that could apply to any company in the sector. A visitor should not need to scroll through half a page to learn what the business actually does.
A clearer approach works better. State the offer in plain English. Give the visitor one sensible next step. Then provide more detail for people who want it.
That is not about reducing a business to a slogan. It is about respecting the fact that people make quick decisions online.
Too much choice can make people do nothing
More options do not always lead to more sales. If every option appears equally important, customers may delay a decision or abandon the process entirely.
Gaming platforms handle this by grouping choices in ways that make sense to the user. A person does not need to see every possible title or format at once. They need a route that helps them find what they came for.
The same thinking can help almost any small business. A tradesperson might divide services by property type or job size. A marketing agency could separate its support for start-ups, growing firms and established companies. A retailer may help shoppers browse by occasion, budget or need rather than by a long list of product names.
Clear categories do not limit choice. They make choice manageable.
The wording matters too. Labels should be obvious. A category called “Solutions” may sound polished, but it tells customers very little. “Bookkeeping for small businesses” or “Emergency plumbing repairs” tells them exactly where to go.
Good navigation gives people confidence
Customers are more likely to continue when they understand where they are and what happens next. This is one reason clear navigation matters so much.
A platform that separates online slots, online roulette and Megaways slots gives visitors a straightforward way to find a familiar type of game instead of searching through an unstructured list. The same rule applies outside gaming. People should not have to guess which page contains the information they need.
For SMEs, this often means reviewing the website from the customer’s point of view rather than the owner’s. Business owners already know how their services fit together. New visitors do not.
Ask a few simple questions:
- Can someone find the main service in one or two clicks?
- Do page headings match the words customers use?
- Is the contact route easy to spot?
- Does each page explain what happens after an enquiry?
If the answer to any of these is no, the site may be creating work for the customer before the business has earned their trust.
Feedback makes people more likely to continue
Games are good at showing progress. A player can see that they have completed a task, learned a new skill or moved closer to a goal. That feeling encourages them to keep going.
Businesses can use the same principle without adding points, badges or gimmicks. Customers simply need reassurance that their action has worked.
After someone completes an enquiry form, tell them when they can expect a reply. After they place an order, make the delivery process clear. After they sign up for a service, explain the next stage in simple terms.
Silence creates uncertainty. A customer who submits their details and receives no confirmation may wonder if the form worked. A client who has paid an invoice but receives no update may question what happens next. These are small moments, but they shape how reliable a business feels.
The best customer journeys make progress visible. They do not leave people guessing.
Return visits have to be earned
Many businesses spend heavily on finding new customers, then give little thought to the experience after the first purchase. That is expensive and short-sighted.
Games understand that people return when there is a reason to return. It may be new content, a challenge, a social connection or the simple feeling that progress has not been lost. The equivalent for a small business might be useful follow-up, reliable service or a reason to buy again.
A local retailer could send a helpful reminder when a product needs replacing. A service business could offer an annual check-up. A software provider could explain a useful feature that customers may have missed. The key is relevance.
Not every message needs to be a sales pitch. In fact, repeated sales messages can weaken the relationship if they arrive without a clear reason. Customers remember businesses that make their lives easier, not businesses that only contact them when they want another payment.
Data should explain behaviour, not replace judgement
Gaming companies watch how players move through a product. They look at where people stop, which features they use and what brings them back. SMEs can learn from that, even with far smaller budgets.
Website analytics, customer questions and sales conversations can reveal where people become uncertain. If many visitors leave from the same page, the problem may be unclear wording or a missing piece of information. If customers repeatedly ask the same question before buying, the answer should probably be easier to find.
Data is useful when it leads to a practical change. It is less useful when it becomes a collection of numbers with no action behind it.
A small business does not need a complex dashboard to improve. It may only need to notice that people struggle with a booking form, do not understand pricing or cannot find a phone number on mobile.
The aim is not to make business childish
There is a temptation to talk about “gamification” whenever games and business appear in the same conversation. That often leads to pointless features: badges nobody wants, loyalty systems that are too complicated and rewards that do not match what customers value.
The better lesson is simpler. Make the customer’s next step obvious. Remove avoidable confusion. Give people useful feedback. Make a return visit feel worthwhile.
UK SMEs do not need to copy the gaming industry. They can learn from its understanding of attention. When people know what to do, why it matters and what happens next, they are far more likely to stay.
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Apple Plans to Overhaul Its Entire Mac Lineup Starting This Fall With New MacBook Pro and iMac Models
Apple is preparing one of the most comprehensive overhauls of its Mac product line in years, with plans to refresh every computer it currently sells over the next two years, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
The rollout, aimed at capitalizing on surging demand for AI-capable computing hardware, is set to begin this fall with a new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro and the first refreshed iMac models in two years, with additional updates to the MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Studio and Apple’s newest budget laptop, the MacBook Neo, following over the subsequent months.
What’s arriving first
According to Bloomberg, both the refreshed 14-inch MacBook Pro and the updated iMac have already completed development and are being held for a fall release. The new entry-level MacBook Pro, internally codenamed J804, will be among the first Apple products to feature the company’s next-generation M6 chip. The refreshed iMac, carrying internal codenames J833 and J834, is expected to retain the same overall design and display as the current model, according to Appleosophy’s summary of the Bloomberg report, marking an incremental rather than dramatic visual update.
A bigger redesign coming later
Beyond this fall’s initial wave, Apple is preparing a more substantial redesign for its higher-end MacBook Pro lineup, arriving sometime between late 2026 and early 2027. According to Bloomberg, this next-generation Pro model, referred to internally by some reports as the “MacBook Ultra,” will feature an entirely new, thinner design paired with tandem OLED touchscreen displays and a Dynamic Island cutout similar to the one found on recent iPhone models. That premium model is expected to use Apple’s existing M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, carrying internal codenames K114 and K116 for its 14-inch and 16-inch variants, according to Appleosophy.
The touchscreen OLED display would mark a significant shift in Apple’s laptop design philosophy, introducing a display technology Apple has never before used on a MacBook Pro. According to BigGo Finance, Apple is already testing this hardware alongside macOS 27.1, which is expected to ship in late October, suggesting the software groundwork for the redesigned laptop is already well underway even if the hardware itself won’t arrive until later.
A refresh extending across nearly the entire lineup
Beyond the MacBook Pro and iMac, Apple’s broader roadmap includes updates to several other product lines. A refreshed MacBook Air is expected to retain its current design while adopting the new M6 chip, carrying codenames J913 and J915. New Mac mini and Mac Studio models are also in development, with their exact release timing reportedly dependent in part on memory chip supply constraints affecting the broader industry, according to MacRumors.
Apple is additionally preparing a second generation of the MacBook Neo, its budget-friendly $599 laptop that debuted in March 2026 as the first Mac ever built around an iPhone-class processor rather than Apple’s traditional M-series silicon. The current MacBook Neo runs on the A18 Pro chip, originally introduced in the iPhone 16 Pro, and BigGo Finance reports that Apple is now testing a successor version built around the newer A19 Pro chip.
Looking further ahead
Apple’s Mac roadmap extends even further into the future, according to Bloomberg’s reporting. A base-model 14-inch MacBook Pro built around the M7 chip and adopting the redesigned “MacBook Ultra” aesthetic is expected sometime in 2027, carrying the internal codename K104. A further refresh of the premium MacBook Ultra line, upgraded to M7 Pro and M7 Max chips, is anticipated in the late 2027 to early 2028 window.
Looking beyond that, Apple is reportedly developing an OLED version of the MacBook Air, expected no earlier than 2028, which would mark the first time that particular laptop line has offered an OLED display. An OLED iMac is also said to be in development, though its release timeline remains unclear, and it is expected to follow the MacBook Air’s eventual transition to the newer display technology.
Why Apple is investing so heavily in Macs now
The scale of this planned overhaul comes amid what MacRumors described as a broader Mac sales resurgence, with revenue from the product line projected to climb for a third consecutive year. According to BigGo Finance, Mac revenue recently reached a record level, with the growth partly attributed to an expanding user base relying on Mac hardware for demanding, AI-driven computing workloads, including so-called agent-based AI tasks that require significant local processing power.
Apple’s decision to prioritize this kind of hardware refresh reflects a broader industry-wide push among computer makers to capture growing consumer and professional demand for machines capable of running increasingly sophisticated AI applications directly on-device, rather than relying entirely on cloud-based processing.
A separate iPad delay
While the Mac lineup is set for a significant near-term overhaul, Apple’s iPad refresh plans appear to be moving on a slower timeline by comparison. According to MacRumors, Bloomberg had previously suggested a broader iPad update would arrive sometime in 2026, but more recent reporting suggests that refresh may not materialize until the first quarter of 2027 at the earliest, a shift that stands in contrast to the accelerated pace of Apple’s planned Mac updates.
Market reaction
News of the planned Mac overhaul drew a modest reaction from investors when it was first reported, with Apple shares slipping nearly 1% in morning trading the day the report emerged, according to Stocktwits, though the stock has continued its broader upward trajectory in the days since amid other positive catalysts, including price target increases from multiple Wall Street analysts.
With development on the initial wave of new Macs, including the refreshed MacBook Pro and iMac, already reportedly complete, attention now turns to Apple’s typical fall announcement schedule, when the company traditionally unveils new Mac and MacBook models alongside its annual iPhone lineup. Whether Apple sticks to the timeline outlined in Bloomberg’s reporting, and how the company positions this broader multiyear Mac refresh against its upcoming foldable iPhone launch and expanding AI software features, are likely to become clearer as Apple’s fall product announcements approach in the coming months.
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Kylie Kelce Calls Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Wedding ‘Absolutely Magical’ in New Podcast Episode
Kylie Kelce is finally addressing her brother-in-law’s wedding to Taylor Swift, offering fans their first real glimpse into her thoughts on the July 3 ceremony three weeks after it took place.
Speaking on the July 23 episode of her podcast, “Not Gonna Lie,” Kelce, who is married to Travis Kelce’s older brother, Jason, offered a warm but brief tribute to the newlyweds without revealing significant new details about the celebration itself.
What Kylie Kelce said
“I would like to say congratulations to Tay and Trav. It was absolutely magical,” Kelce said during the episode. She continued, “I’m so happy for them, we love them so, so dearly. And it was only making it official because Taylor’s been part of the family now for quite some time, so that’s that.”
Kelce made clear she did not intend to share further specifics about the ceremony, instead redirecting curious fans to the couple themselves. “Anything else you can check in with Taylor and Travis about because any of the details that they want to share, they can share,” she said. “Otherwise, it was intimate and incredible and full of love both for each other and everybody else’s love for them.”
A wedding that included Kelce’s own daughters
Swift and Travis Kelce were married on July 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with reports indicating more than 1,000 guests attended the celebration. According to sportscaster Rich Eisen, who attended the event and spoke about it in a July 10 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” all four of Jason and Kylie Kelce’s daughters, Wyatt, 6, Elliotte, 5, Bennett, 3, and Finnley, 15 months, served as flower girls during the ceremony. Eisen described the family’s role warmly, telling the outlet that the Kelce family was “just awesome” and recalling the sight of the four young girls “sprinkling flower petals all over the place.”
Jason Kelce has separately described the day as “special” for the family, and previously said his daughters were “very happy” to take part in the wedding. According to a source cited by People, the ceremony was officiated by comedian Adam Sandler.
Addressing viral wedding speculation
Beyond congratulating the couple, Kelce used part of the podcast episode to push back against what she described as an inaccurate report about comments she’d made regarding the wedding. Recounting a conversation she’d had with a father and daughter at the American Century Championship golf event in Lake Tahoe earlier this month, Kelce explained that someone had filmed part of the exchange and mischaracterized it.
“One of them asked me, ‘Will there be photos posted?’ And I said, ‘Well, it just happened. You got to give them some time to bask in it. They’re in the honeymoon time,’” Kelce recalled. She continued, “He recorded the end of that and decided to say that I was commenting on the wedding and the honeymoon. No, I was just saying maybe give them, give Tay and Trav, some time.”
A long-running, publicly warm relationship
Kelce’s latest comments continue a pattern of publicly warm remarks she has made about Swift dating back to well before the wedding itself. Following news of Travis Kelce and Swift’s engagement last September, Kelce appeared on “Good Morning America” and told the program, “We could not be more excited for them and what the future holds. We love love, and we love Taylor and Trav.” She also said at the time that her daughters were “thrilled” about the engagement, adding, “They’re so excited they’re getting another aunt.”
Kelce reiterated similar sentiments on her own podcast around the same period, saying she felt “so incredibly happy” for the couple and expressing gratitude at getting “to welcome Taylor into our family in a more official capacity.”
Not always eager to discuss the details
Despite her consistently warm public tone toward the couple, Kelce has previously expressed frustration with the intensity of public interest in Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship milestones. During an April episode of her podcast, recorded ahead of the wedding, Kelce had a pointed message for those repeatedly asking about upcoming wedding plans. “To literally everybody, I know it usually comes from a good place, not always, but quit asking me and my mother-in-law about upcoming nuptials,” she said at the time, adding bluntly that neither she nor her mother-in-law had any additional information to share.
A high-profile romance now formalized
Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship began publicly in 2023, after Kelce revealed on his “New Heights” podcast, which he co-hosts with Jason Kelce, that he had attempted to give Swift a friendship bracelet after attending one of her Eras Tour concerts in Kansas City. Their relationship became public within weeks of that podcast episode, and Swift went on to make frequent appearances at Kansas City Chiefs games throughout the following seasons, becoming a familiar presence not just to football fans but to the broader Kelce family as well.
With Kylie Kelce having now offered her first public remarks since the wedding, and both Swift and Travis Kelce continuing to keep most specific details of the ceremony private, fans hoping for additional insight into the celebration, including any official photos, appear likely to have to wait for the couple to share that information on their own terms. As Kelce herself put it during the podcast episode, any further details about the wedding remain squarely up to “Taylor and Travis” to decide when, and whether, to share.
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Will Bain is joined by Nga Pham in Hanoi and Takara Small in Toronto. Following the latest results from Alphabet and Tesla, both companies are under pressure to sustain spending as competition in artificial intelligence intensifies. Is Wall Street beginning to question the cost of the AI race?
Plus, the mounting economic impact of Canada’s wildfires, why ketchup-flavoured crisps have become such a uniquely Canadian phenomenon, and what Donald Trump’s renewed tariff negotiations could mean for global trade.
(Photo: The Google logo, made up of different coloured letters – blue, red, yellow, blue, green, orange – on the Google house at the CES consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, 10 January, 2024. Credit: Steve Marcus/Reuters)
You can email the team: businessdaily@bbc.co.uk
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Some Amazon Prime customers have days remaining to file claims for refunds of up to $51 under the company’s $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
Claims must be submitted by July 27, 2026, through the official settlement website. The deadline applies to eligible consumers who have not already received an automatic payment.
Amazon agreed in September 2025 to place $1.5 billion into a consumer refund fund and pay a separate $1 billion civil penalty. The company did not admit wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement.
The FTC alleged that Amazon enrolled consumers in Prime without obtaining informed consent and made the subscription difficult to cancel. The settlement requires changes to the company’s enrollment and cancellation processes, including clearer disclosures and an easier way for customers to decline or cancel Prime.
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Certain Amazon Prime customers are eligible for refunds up to $51. (Isabella Falsetti/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
To qualify for the claims process, consumers must be U.S. Amazon Prime customers who signed up through one of the enrollment flows challenged by the FTC, or unsuccessfully tried to cancel online, between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025.
The challenged enrollment flows include Amazon’s universal Prime decision page, shipping selection page, single-page checkout and Prime Video enrollment process. Amazon will determine whether a customer enrolled through one of those flows.
Claims must be submitted by July 27, 2026, through the official settlement website. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Eligible consumers must have used more than three but fewer than 10 Prime benefits during any 12-month period of Prime enrollment and must not have already received an automatic refund.
Consumers filing a claim must confirm that they either enrolled unintentionally or tried and failed to cancel through Amazon’s online process.
Approved claimants may be reimbursed for Prime membership fees, up to $51. Submitting a claim does not guarantee payment.
Payments can be issued by check, PayPal or Venmo. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Payments can be issued by check, PayPal or Venmo. The FTC said Amazon expects to distribute claims-process payments in late 2026, but a specific mailing date has not been announced.
The agency is also warning consumers about refund scams. Neither the FTC nor Amazon will require a payment to release a settlement refund, and consumers should be wary of anyone promising guaranteed approval or special access.
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Donald Trump says the US will launch an investigation into the European Union and threatened a fresh tariff over fines handed to some of the biggest American tech companies.
It comes days after the European Commission fined Google €890m ($1bn) for operating in a way that squeezed out competitors to its services.
In a post to Truth Social, which Trump owns, the US president said the EU would pay a “very big price” over how it had treated Google, along with other major US tech companies Apple, Meta, and Amazon, which have also been investigated.
“The United States of America is not a “PIGGYBANK” for Europe, nor will we allow it to be!” he wrote.
Trump said any fines should be “entirely reversed” and that he was initiating a trade investigation of the EU while considering “a substantial TARIFF”.
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