How many tedious, repetitive tasks do you perform on a regular basis to keep your business running? An online store might be appealing because it can automate many tasks for you, like processing orders and payments. Whether you want to optimize workflows, improve team communication, or become the owner of a fully automated ecommerce business, let’s cover how automation can free up your time and resources.
11 ways to automate your business
- Generate product listing content
- Set and adjust prices
- Handle fulfillment
- Optimize shipping
- Monitor inventory
- Enhance marketing
- Simplify customer service
- Manage reviews
- Run digital ads
- Reduce risk
- Get data and insights
1. Generate product listing content
Online product listings are like the virtual equivalent of your catalog and store shelves. They showcase your products and help customers understand what makes them stand out. But writing your product content can sometimes be a challenge. If you’re listing a product in the Amazon store, you can use our generative artificial intelligence (AI) features to help you create compelling titles, descriptions, and other attributes from just a few words or an image.
2. Set and adjust prices
Conducting research and setting competitive prices can take you away from other important tasks. Luckily, there are automated solutions that can handle pricing for you.
For example, Automate Pricing in the Amazon store lets you set pricing rules and limits that automatically update prices 24/7 to help keep them competitive. That can help increase your chances of becoming the Featured Offer.
3. Handle fulfillment
Ecommerce automation can come into play at many stages of the fulfillment process, including:
- Printing shipping labels
- Tracking orders
- Sending notifications
For example, it’s possible to set up a notifications system where customers automatically get a series of alerts confirming their order and letting them know when it‘s shipped. It might seem like a small piece of the puzzle, but a reliable notification system can go far in enhancing the customer journey and freeing up your time.
4. Optimize shipping
It can be worth looking at each step in your fulfillment process for opportunities to optimize. For example, when you fulfill Amazon orders yourself, you can use Shipping Settings Automation to calculate the fastest transit times based on where you’re shipping from, what shipping services you use, and your customers’ delivery locations. That can help you offer more accurate delivery promises.
As part of a fully automated set of services called Supply Chain by Amazon, FBA can help you save time, reduce operational costs, and grow your business.
5. Monitor inventory
In the balancing act of inventory management, the goal is to monitor fluctuations in stock levels to avoid running out of stock or overstocking. Explore your options and look for providers who offer services like auto-replenishment. Amazon Warehousing and Distribution can be a good option for Amazon sellers looking stay in stock using a low-cost bulk storage solution.
6. Enhance marketing
Communicating with customers, growing your audience, customizing your messaging—ecommerce marketing automation can help with all of this and more. Invest in management software for emails, social media, and other types of promotions.
Get as granular as you like by organizing mailing lists, designing campaigns that resonate with specific customers, and scheduling campaigns to launch at strategic times. Learn more in our guide to ecommerce marketing.
7. Simplify customer service
How do customers ask you questions and resolve issues? Look to chatbots and other forms of AI that can help:
- Respond to customer messages
- Assist with returns and exchanges
- Issue refunds
You can also turn to simple solutions like setting up an automatic email in response to customer inquiries. This is your chance to give the customer a warm welcome to your business and let them know customer support is on the case.
8. Manage reviews
Customer reviews can be key. Use best practices to help earn positive reviews, focusing on the best customer experience possible and making tweaks in response to feedback. For brands enrolled in Brand Registry, the Customer Reviews tool collects reviews for efficient tracking. If a customer leaves a rating less than three stars, you can use auto-generated templates to offer a refund or request information to provide further assistance.
You can also use the Voice of the Customer dashboard in Seller Central to review feedback from customers and take action to fix product and listing issues.
9. Run digital ads
Give your advertising strategy a boost with cost-per-click (CPC) ads. Use targeted CPC options like Sponsored Products to help customers connect with the products they’re looking for. With Sponsored Products, you can manually choose keywords or let Amazon choose keywords for you based on how you want the ads to appear in relevant search results.
For brands enrolled in Brand Registry, another CPC advertising option is Sponsored Display. Powered by machine-learning, these ads can appear across the Amazon store in addition to thousands of websites and apps.
10. Reduce risk
There are a range of technologies that can help protect your business from fraud and other risks. For example, AI can proactively identify and prevent high-risk orders based on indicators like flagged IP addresses, unusual or large orders, or suspicious payments.
In the Amazon store, you can use Report a Violation to search for potential violations of your active trademarks, copyrights, and patents. If you find a suspected infringement, you can report it to Amazon.
There’s also Project Zero, which lets sellers combine automated protections and the power of serialization with the ability to immediately remove counterfeit listings from Amazon stores.
11. Get data insights
Instead of manually calculating metrics, you can automate report generation for key performance indicators like:
- Clicks
- Cart-adds
- Purchases
- Revenue
- Conversions
Keep an eye on the numbers in order to spot trends and turning points. To move the needle for your business, check out Amazon Brand Analytics. Available to brands enrolled in Brand Registry, this collection of dashboards lets you explore aggregated data based on your brand’s performance and customer search behavior.
We’re able to watch our sales every single day [and] look at our inventory levels.
More resources to automate your ecommerce business
From product launches to scaling sales, ecommerce automation can help you increase efficiency and avoid mistakes. Here are a few more tools you might want to consider as you look into potential solutions for your business:
- Amazon Seller app: Our free app can help you track and fulfil orders, manage pricing, and more—all from the palm of your hand.
- Selling Partner Appstore: Discover Amazon-approved third-party software to help automate, manage, and grow your business.
- Selling Partner API: Build custom automation solutions for your business and share apps with other Amazon sellers.
Ready to reduce the list of routine tasks on your plate and redirect your attention to more meaningful pursuits? We’re here to support your success as you take your business to the next level with automation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is ecommerce automation?
What are the benefits of ecommerce automation?
- Saving time
- Reducing operating costs
- Improving the customer experience
- Increasing sales
- Growing and scaling your business
