Reminder: Send in FBA and MCF Inventory by October 26 Before Holiday Deal Events
- A reminder to send your FBA and MCF inventory by October 26 for the upcoming holiday deal events, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It’s essential to ensure availability for this busy season. Stay updated on FBA capacity limits for the holidays in November.
Get More Control of Automated Handling Time with Feature Updates
- We’ve enhanced the automated handling time feature for seller-fulfilled orders to provide better protection against order surges and more accurate delivery promises, potentially boosting sales. These improvements include same-day handling time for orders shipped on the same day, the ability to manually override order-handling capacity, and the option to revert to previous handling times if needed.
- Same-day handling time: Automated handling time will now apply a same-day handling time to SKUs that you ship on the day that you receive an order, which will show more accurate delivery promises.
- Override for order-handling capacity: Automated handling time will set your order-handling capacity based on your past performance, but you now have the option to manually override it if your operations improve.
- Option to revert to previous handling time: If you decide to switch off automated handling time, it will revert your SKU-specific handling time to what it was before you enabled this feature. Now you can try the feature without losing your pre-configured values.
Customers Will Now See Sales Trend for Your Eligible Listings
- Amazon is introducing a new feature called “sales trend” for certain product categories like health and personal care, home, and sports. This feature shows customers how many people have recently purchased a particular product, such as “10K+ bought in the past month.” It’s designed to help customers discover popular products. Sales trend data is refreshed daily and does not include returns or cancellations. It cannot be turned off and may positively impact your product’s visibility in search rankings. To improve your sales trend, focus on product quality, availability, and competitive pricing.
Amazon Plans Commercial Breaks for Prime Video
- Amazon Prime Video, known for its ad-free experience, is planning to introduce TV commercials starting early next year. This shift follows other streaming services like Disney+, Netflix, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max in offering ad-supported tiers. However, Amazon intends to have fewer ads than traditional broadcasters or rivals, with a benchmark of four minutes per hour. The rollout will begin in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada in early 2024, expanding to other countries later. Customers who prefer an ad-free experience can pay an additional $2.99 per month in the U.S. on top of their Prime subscription. This move is seen as a way to generate more revenue to invest in content, considering Amazon’s costly acquisitions and content production.
Alexa Unveils New Speech Recognition, Text-to-speech Technologies
- Amazon has unveiled significant advancements in its voice assistant, Alexa, at a recent event. The main highlight is the introduction of a new Alexa large language model (LLM) designed for voice applications. This model is more generalized and optimized to engage in conversations on various topics, make accurate API calls for tasks like controlling lights and adjusting temperatures, provide personalized information based on user data, and ensure factual reliability while maintaining customer privacy.
- Additionally, Alexa will introduce features like on-device visual processing to eliminate the need for the wake word, improved automatic-speech-recognition (ASR) systems, and a new large text-to-speech (LTTS) model. The most striking innovation is a speech-to-speech model that allows Alexa to exhibit human-like conversational attributes, such as laughter, and adapt its prosody to the speaker’s emotions.
- These upgrades aim to make interactions with Alexa more natural and engaging. While these developments are primarily related to voice interactions, they will likely have implications for e-commerce and shopping on Amazon by enhancing the user experience and making voice-based shopping more intuitive and efficient.
Amazon Adds RFID to Cashierless Tech to Support Apparel Purchases
- Amazon is integrating radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology into its Just Walk Out cashierless shopping system, partnering with Avery Dennison. Shoppers can select softline goods like clothing, fan gear, and shoes, each with a unique RFID tag, and pay seamlessly as they exit through an Amazon One terminal or using debit/credit cards. This technology, already deployed in several locations including sports arenas, enhances the shopping experience by providing a convenient way to purchase apparel and similar items. While Amazon expands its cashierless technology, it’s also focusing on its existing stores, and other retailers like Uniqlo are adopting RFID for self-checkout and inventory management, reflecting a broader industry trend.
Amazon Restricts Authors From Self-Publishing More Than Three Books a Day After AI Concerns
- Amazon has implemented a new rule limiting authors to self-publishing a maximum of three books per day on its platform, in response to a surge in suspected AI-generated content being listed for sale. The announcement was made on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) forum, with the company stating that the limit is set at three titles but may be adjusted as needed. Amazon clarified that there was a previous limit in place but did not disclose the exact number. This move comes as Amazon monitors the impact of generative AI on publishing. While some believe this rule will help manage the influx of AI-written content, others suggest those seeking to profit from AI-generated books may find workarounds. Additionally, Amazon recently required authors to disclose when content is AI-generated and introduced guidelines for AI-generated and AI-assisted content.
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