The post Amazon Unveils AI Tool That Builds Entire Ad Campaigns For Merchants appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Sellers can now describe an ad concept in plain text and let Amazon’s chatbot generate taglines, images, scripts, music, and even full video storyboards.
Amazon says the system reduces costs and speeds up production, turning what once took weeks into hours.
Ads can then be distributed not only across Amazon’s own marketplace, but also on platforms like Prime Video, Twitch, Netflix, Roku and Disney+.
The move raises questions about how AI will reshape digital advertising and small business operations worldwide.
The tools are powered by Amazon’s Nova AI model alongside Anthropic’s Claude and are integrated with Creative Studio, Amazon’s suite for image, audio, and video generation.
Early testing shows promising results. One brand, Bird Buddy, saw a 338% jump in ad click-through rates using the AI-built campaign.
But the push goes beyond advertising.
Seller Assistant can now manage inventory, flag products at risk of breaching safety rules, suggest pricing changes, and even propose new product categories based on shopper behaviour.
Amazon says the system is designed to free up small and medium businesses to focus on product development while AI handles day-to-day operations.
The upgrades arrive as Amazon’s ad business continues to soar, generating an estimated A$90–100 billion annually with 23% year-on-year growth in its most recent quarter.
Locally, Amazon has not yet confirmed when the new AI-powered features will launch for Australian sellers, but the company has promised a global rollout in the coming months.
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]]>The post Things Go Better With Microsoft appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>SEATTLE: Microsoft has won a five-year deal with soft drink giant Coca-Cola to supply business software, including its Teams chat app and tools for customer service agents.
The companies did not disclose the size of the deal but said it will include Dynamics 365, a suite of Microsoft tools that competes directly with Salesforce.
Coca-Cola said it will use Microsoft technology to pull together information from several internal systems, using artificial intelligence to fetch data from them, and answer questions.
The company said Microsoft’s software would replace previously disparate and fragmented systems.
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]]>The post MGG Grand Las Vegas, Fast Becoming A Tired Old Tart appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>The MGM is one of the older hotels in Las Vegas and it’s showing its age due in part to cost cutting and cost gouging by management, who appear to be obsessed at squeezing a dollar out of anything they can including their rooms.
I have attended 22 CES shows in Las Vegas, this is the worlds largest technology show, and over those 22 years I have stayed at the MGM for 20 of the 22 years.
The cost per night Has gradually crept up and this year was A$618, for that you a Queen-sized bed in a room that only has one light between two queen sized beds.
Of this amount there was a bed night room tax fee of 13.38% and then an additional US$44.36 or A$58 fee which was described as an MGM Resort fee tax.
So far no one has explained what this is for.
But you do get free Wi Fi, but you don’t get a robe in your room, breakfast, a kettle or coffee making facilities.
You also have to pay A$6.00 for a small bottle of water.
I strongly recommend that you run out to the ABC Convenience store where the sale bottle of water is A$1.00.
In the room management are so tight that they only use low voltage lights resulting in the room being impossible to see in especially as the room is 41 square metres or 464 square feet.
There was supposed to be a second light in the room as per the hotels publicity images used online, when I questioned management about this they sent a person to my room who said, “Sorry but we don’t have any additional lights”.
“Yes, there is supposed to be one, but we have none. There is nothing I can do about it”. There was a desktop light over a desk but this was no good when one was trying to read.
Then there was the issue of no hot water.
After three cold showers I complained to the front desk, when a maintenance executive came to my room he ran the water for more than 9 minutes, he then informed me that to get hot water I had to run the taps for between 8-10 minutes.
When I pointed out that in the mornings I don’t have time to run a shower for 10 minutes “just to get hot water” he said, “sorry It’s not my fault”.
This is also a hotel that has put restrictors on their showers and basins to restrict water flow.
From what I have seen the MGM has become a tired old hotel with the rooms more like a cheap 3 star motel than a premium hotel especially as they are asking a premium price for their rooms during the CES show.
MGM’s Strip properties are Aria, Bellagio, Circus Circus, Delano, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Signature at MGM Grand, The Mirage, Monte Carlo, Vdara and New York-New York.
If you have had a bad experience at the MGM Grand email me with your story: dwr@4squaremedia.com
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]]>The post Sheraton Hotel Melbourne, Free Loud Music & Screaming Women appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>This was the case at the Sheraton Hotel in Melbourne this week when some dumb events manager, decided that paying customers came second ahead of a bunch of screaming women and a disco set up outside on a 3rd floor balcony, then again the events staff are most probabally on events commisssion so why should they care about house guests.
The only problem was that guests on the 1st to 12th floor where I was staying had to put up with not only the worst techno beat music for hours on end but a bunch of drunk screaming party guests who had no regard for paying guests.
Even worse the Hotel Duty Manager who admitted that “many” guest had complained about the noise appeared to be powerless to stop the noise.
He also failed to get the DJ running the outside disco to turn the noise down so that guests on every floor under and above the outside disco could sleep.
At one stage a threat was made to call the police on the grounds that if this had been a residential property, the DJ would have been warned about the noise especially if residents 12 houses away could hear the noise clearly.
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]]>The post Red Balloon Pricked appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Red Balloon on March 31st and June 30th, 2017 allegedly charged four customers excessive payment surcharges with payments they made by MasterCard credit, Visa credit, Visa debit, and MasterCard debit.
Dr. Michael Scharper even confirmed that Red Balloon is charging customers more than they are allowed under ACCC guidelines.
“Red Balloon was charging these customers more than allowed under the law prohibiting excessive payment surcharges on card transactions,
This provides that businesses can only pass on to customers what it costs to accept the payment, including fees such as merchant service fees, and terminal rental and maintenance fees.”
Since Red Balloon is categorised as a large business under the excessive payment surcharges provisions it cannot over charge its customers. These laws have been in effect for over a year now.
Red Balloon since the incidents has lowered its payments to the correct amount and has cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation.
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]]>The post Singles Day Rakes In $25bn Haul appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Once a celebration for China’s lonely hearts, Singles’ Day 11/11 has become an annual 24-hour buying frenzy that exceeds the combined sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the USA, offering a barometer for China’s consumers.
At midnight pre-orders drove Alibaba’s platforms to ring up $10 billion in just over an hour.
As tills shut down at midnight on Saturday, Alibaba’s live sales-ticker registered 168.3 billion yuan (A$33 billion), up 39 percent from last year.
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]]>The post WeWork Spreads Down Under appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>It already has a Sydney presence and is reportedly looking for a second Melbourne site
New York-based WeWork targets technology workers, freelancers and entrepreneurs who rent individual work spaces or small offices.
“It’s no secret that we’re actively scouting for new opportunities in both Sydney and Melbourne to further our expansion,” WeWork Australia’s GM Balder Tol told The Australian, adding the group aims to be a major player Down Under in a few years’ time.
In Sydney, WeWork operates out of Martin Place and the technology hub of Pyrmont. Its new Melbourne office, occupies no less than six floors of the historic London Stores building. Occupying a so-called hot-desk costs $370 a month, while starting prices for private offices range from $730 a month for one seat to $6400 for 10.
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]]>The post How To Get An Education In Apps appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>An American college has introduced an ‘app-making’ degree to cater for the increasing need for new software development jobs, due to more people adopting smart devices.
An estimated 300,000 new jobs are expected to be created in the next few years, with many calling for special knowledge of creating mobile apps.
Rasmussen College, which operates campuses in Florida and Minnesota as well as three other states in the US, is offering two and four year degree programmes featuring ‘mobile application development’, computer graphics programming, and ‘engineering virtual worlds’.
Hap Aziz, director of Rasmussen’s school of technology and design which has 2000 students told the technology website All Things Digital: “There is going to be a continued need as people start adopting more smart devices.”
The curriculum focusses on iPhone and Android app development, but Aziz says the mobile world is changing so fast that the landscape may change by the time students get their four year degree.
It’s not the first time the school has tried to tap into technology trends. A programme in computer games and simulations proved popular at the school two years ago.
Aziz said the school added a mobile class to the programme as soon as smartphones started taking off.
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]]>The post Clive Peeters Profits Crash 90% Sales Steady appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Sales fell 0.2% to $266.7M compared to $267.2M in 2007. Comparable sales declined 10.3%. Net operating costs to sales ratio was 21.8%.
Although Clive Peeters headline sales were only 0.2% below H1 2008, like store sales fell by over 10%, and increased operating costs associated with additional stores and a reduced gross profit margin contributed to the sharp decline in their profits the Company said
Clive Peeters CEO said that he was competing in the worst conditions for 30 years. Managing Director Greg Smith commented “the conditions for big ticket discretionary retail over H1 2009 have been more challenging than I can recall in my 30 years in this industry. Consumer sentiment was already at 16 year lows entering the period, and this reflected in floor traffic across all stores and in all States in which we operate being down an average of 10%. This fed directly into our sales reduction over the half.
The factors which contributed to a sharp slowdown in sales for the fourth quarter of FY 2008 – high interest rates, high fuel costs and depressed housing markets – continued into Q1 2009 and were exacerbated by the global financial sector crash and its resultant credit squeeze mid way through the half year. The uncertainty caused by these events and fear of job losses have seen consumer confidence fall to record lows”.
Greg Smith added “with sales under significant pressure this caused increased competition and a sharp fall in gross margins over H1 2009 – the Company’s first margin decline in over 15 years, which says a lot about how challenging this retail environment is.
Our net operating cost to sales ratio increased from 20.2% in H1 2008 to 21.8% in H1 2009 but this was largely due to the sales decline over the half and the cost of new stores. We achieved our objective of reducing underlying operating overheads during H1 2009 by $12m on an annualised basis, and with a continued focus on operating costs we intend to remove at least another $9m of annualised costs in stages over H2 2009. The full annualised impact of these combined cost savings will be reflected in FY 2010.
The Company realised that with the sharp slowdown in big ticket discretionary retail sales in Q4 2008 the environment was certain to deteriorate more over H1 2009, and we acted quickly and decisively to reduce our operating costs. We also reduced inventory levels by $21m over the period. The inventory run down improved our cash flow and strengthened the liquidity of our Balance Sheet.”
Commenting on the Company’s Sydney operation, Greg Smith announced “we are pleased that there is continued improvement coming through in that State despite the very depressed New South Wales retail conditions. Sales in H1 2009 fell 7.6% on the corresponding period of the previous year, the best performance of our eastern states operations. Our operating costs in Sydney were managed very carefully over the period and the final result was $1.6 million net operating loss after tax for H1 2009. This compared to the H2 2008 Sydney loss of $1.8 million after tax, and to the H1 2008 Sydney loss of $2.6m after tax, so we are encouraged by this trend.
We were pleased that despite lower purchases in line with the inventory reduction programme which caused a loss of $4m of rebates over the half we were able to convert a Q1 2009 Operating Loss into an operating profit before tax for Q2 2009 of $3.2m. The result would have been further improved were it not for industry shortages in Panel TV stocks which emerged because of the strong sales uplift across the Industry in the month of December.”
Greg Smith stated “these times demand strict management of inventories and cash flows, and we are doing well in these two areas. Capital expenditure is under a tight hold, and no new stores are committed to or planned for calendar year 2009.
However on a positive note our pilots for kitchen and bathroom renovations (Moorabbin and Thomastown) and for a range of new technology, software and gaming product (Moorabbin) have both been launched in recent months and are showing promising early results. We expect these product and services innovations to represent a platform for like stores sales growth as we roll them out to other stores when the retail cycle improves.
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]]>The post New Free Internet Measurement From Google appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>As a debate rages over Internet measurement Google has rolled out a new version of its free web measurement service Google Analytics. The new version was announced today at the EMetrics Summit in San Francisco.
In Australia it is competing head on with paid web measurement companies like Nielsen Net Rating which was recently critisised when it suggested that the bulk of visitors to Australian IT sites were from overseas. Also competing with Google is Facilitate Digital which markets the Silhouette web measurement software.
Google Analytics allows executives, marketers and Web site owners to examine how their users interact with their Web site and help increase online business. The company has done a total redesign on the product and improved the feature set through new email reporting, customizable dashboards, map displays, and plain language descriptions to make information easier to access.
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“At Geffen Records, we use Google Analytics to determine what website content is most valuable to music fans so we can craft the most effective marketing strategies,” said Aaron Foreman, Head of Digital Media, Geffen Records.
“As an early adopter of the new version of Google Analytics, we are impressed with the richness of the data and its ease of use that provides us with the most important information immediately,” said Lee Hammond, Director of Digital Technology, Geffen Records.
In the new version of Google Analytics, data is organized into combinations of reports, so users can make decisions about site management and Google AdWords campaigns. Google Analytics tracks online marketing campaigns and generates email reports that can be shared with co-workers.
Beginning today new users will have access to the updated version. Current users will be able to access the old version and the new version for 30 days and all historical data will be available in the new version.
“At Google, we’re focused on building powerful tools to help advertisers measure the effectiveness of their marketing dollars and optimize their business,” said Paul Muret, Engineering Director, Google.
“The new version of Google Analytics will give advertisers and site owners greater insight into their customers’ needs, thereby increasing advertiser ROI while also improving the e-commerce experience of consumers.”
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