Ecommerce Automation: Definition & Tips

Ecommerce moves fast and there’s a lot to juggle: increasing sales, maintaining your digital storefront, and making sure every business process is as efficient as possible. And you need to do it all while delivering exceptional customer experiences. That’s a tall order. In fact, 64% of commerce professionals say meeting customer expectations is harder than ever. That’s why so many businesses are turning to ecommerce automation for help.

Here’s how ecommerce automation can help you manage sales across channels like a pro, keep up with evolving customer expectations, and reduce repetitive tasks so you can focus on what truly matters: complex tasks that require a human touch.

• What is ecommerce automation?
• How does ecommerce automation work?
• What tasks can you automate in your ecommerce business?
• What are the benefits of ecommerce automation?
• How to choose the best ecommerce automation tools?
• How to implement automation in your ecommerce store
• Marketing automation strategies for ecommerce
• Getting started with ecommerce automation

You can think of ecommerce automation as your digital sidekick that handles repetitive, tedious tasks as well as various operational functions. This includes (but isn’t limited to) sending marketing campaigns, addressing customer queries, updating pricing, and managing store operations. Ecommerce automation works behind the scenes to increase productivity and ensure success.

In fact, most commerce teams have already implemented automation to manage order statuses, inventory, and returns. Did you know that 75% of commerce brands have automated self-service and order support capabilities?

Running an ecommerce store often involves donning a dozen hats and completing hundreds of repetitive tasks per day. Automating these tasks can help you stay productive and efficient, while focusing on the big picture. But first identify which tasks are best suited for automation. These three questions will help you identify them:

Does a specific action trigger this task? The best tasks for automation are those triggered by a customer's or employee's action — or inaction. Automating an action that triggers a workflow is a solid use case because it allows your teams to remain hands-off and frees up their time for more strategic tasks.

Does this task require multiple people? Tasks that require two or more people can result in human errors — and if a task involves a large group, this can mean an exponential loss of efficiency. Consider automating such workflows to ensure accuracy and productivity at scale.

Does this currently require multiple technology platforms? Processes that require multiple platforms are prime options for automation. For example, automation can unify tasks where sales, customer service, inventory, and shipping data live in separate systems. Picture all the tasks involved in sending order status to your customers. Every order update connects multiple systems: communication through your marketing platform, stock-level updates in your inventory management system, and order fulfillment in your order management system — all from a single warehouse shipment.

Every business is unique, but you’ll find a common thread while identifying automation opportunities. Tasks that are repetitive, easy to complete, and initiated by certain triggers or managed with predefined rules or parameters can be automated. Here are some instances where ecommerce automation can come in handy:

• Sending confirmations, receipts, and shipping updates after purchases
• Reengaging customers who abandon their carts with reminders and special offers or incentives
• Segmenting customers for loyalty programs or rewards based on their purchases, lifetime spending, or other set criteria
• Refilling the inventory when stock is low or in response to real-time or predicted demand surges (e.g., Black Friday sales)
• Scheduling promotions, price updates, and customer communications related to major sales events
• Addressing basic customer questions about item availability, product details, or transaction status
• Implementing rules-based pricing and discounts to help move stagnant inventory when demand for a product decreases
• Performing data entry across systems to keep information updated and eliminate manual errors
• Screening orders for red flags and preventing fraudulent purchases

Requesting product reviews, feedback, and surveys after actions such as completing a purchase or calling customer support.

Digital ecommerce sales continue to rise, with U.S. online retail sales projected to hit $1.2 trillion in 2024. As your sales skyrocket, you need stronger operations to support increasingly complex workflows. Automation gives you the most ROI while eliminating many growth-related challenges. Commerce teams that implement automation can experience benefits such as:

Time saved: Automation allows you to complete critical tasks more efficiently by executing predefined steps in response to trigger events, such as:

• Communicating with customers about sales events
• Segmenting customers for communications and marketing
• Publishing content to websites and social media channels or sending email newsletters and promotions
• Updating inventory and placing stock orders

Improved customer experience: When a sales process is automated, customer communications happen on schedule, and orders are quickly fulfilled. When you prioritize customer experience, this helps increase loyalty and sales.

Increased employee satisfaction: In an industry where the quit rate outpaces the national average by 70%, increasing employee satisfaction can help you retain top talent. In fact, 41% of retail workers report being bogged down by repetitive tasks, and nearly half of them want more automation. Your team will experience more job satisfaction when you take repetitive tasks off their plate.

Reduced errors: Repetitive, manual processes are prone to errors that take time and money to fix. Automation eliminates these mistakes, for example, incorrect shipping labels leading to returned or misdelivered packages. Automation can significantly reduce these issues.

Defining your goals and roadblocks will help you choose the right automation tools. Do you want to fulfill customer orders more quickly? Does your customer communication need a facelift? Do you want to simplify supply chain and inventory management with minimal staff involvement? Identify your biggest operational challenges and desired features to decide which tool works the best for you. Here are the tools and features to look for:

• A complete, integrated ecommerce platform: Ecommerce isn’t an island; It should be connected to other parts of your business. This makes it easier to implement automation and increases its impact. For example, a unified Commerce platform actively syncs customer and business data across all systems. When ecommerce, marketing, sales, and service data informs your automation strategy, you can create more personalized customer experiences. This approach allows you to automate email campaigns, social media posts, product recommendations, customer segmentation, and retargeting ads based on shared data like customer behavior and purchase history.
• Customer relationship management (CRM): A CRM forms the backbone of ecommerce automation, unifying customer data to drive personalized experiences and automated follow-ups.
• Real-time inventory management: This is key to ecommerce success — this is the system that syncs inventory levels across all your sales channels to prevent overselling and optimize fulfillment based on real-time demand.
• Distributed order management: When order management systems come with built-in automation capabilities, you can speed up fulfillment and shipping processes, and increase customer satisfaction.
• AI agents for Commerce: Customers often have questions while browsing or finalizing a purchase. AI in ecommerce, such as chatbots or agents, can respond to common questions 24/7 or direct more complex questions to your support team. You can reap many benefits using tools like Agentforce — AI agents that you can customize based on your business needs and demands. You can automate everything from order and shipment management tasks, upselling, tech support, and any assistance with services, pricing or bookings.
• Intuitive analytics and reporting: Leveraging AI-powered ecommerce analytics improves visibility into your business, revealing buying trends, customer behavior, and backend operations. These insights and reports help you track progress and identify opportunities to improve various aspects of your ecommerce business.
• Workflow flexibility and customization: You can automate reorders, low inventory stock management, and alerts when something requires attention. You can customize such workflows to meet your business needs and uninterrupted business flow.

Scalability: You should invest in scalable tools that can handle your growth. So, look for solutions to manage complex workflows, higher transaction volumes and integrate seamlessly with new channels. Commerce Cloud offers solutions, including digital storefronts, order management, point of sale (POS), social commerce, and more. In short, we've got everything you need for your ecommerce business to scale.

Once you identify the right solutions, implementing automation in a strategic process can help you significantly shorten time-to-value. Here are a few key implementation steps:

Map out processes for automation and build workflows

Automation begins with identifying the tasks you'll automate and outlining the steps involved. Understanding each touchpoint and how it connects to your business processes is essential.

Consider automating actions triggered by a purchase. In an automated workflow, when a customer completes a transaction on your website, it triggers:

• A confirmation email with a purchase receipt
• An update to the inventory management system, instantly adjusting stock levels and prompting product reorders
• An order to the warehouse for fulfillment, to generate a shipping label and inform a shipping partner about an incoming package
• A notification to the customer once their package ships, along with a tracking link
• A transaction ID that the CRM stores for more context and thorough analysis of customer behavior

Test and refine your automated tasks

If your automation requires integrating multiple tools, thoroughly test all workflows and potential edge cases before full implementation. For example, if your emails are part of an automation sequence, could they end up in spam with certain email providers? The more comprehensive your testing, the more you can refine your automation processes and communications.

Prepare for and avoid common implementation challenges

Implementing ecommerce automation can be complex. Here are a few common obstacles and solutions that will help along the way:

• Interoperability challenges: If you rely on multiple systems, they may not all communicate with each other effectively. Your automation solution should be able to easily integrate with your existing systems.
• Business process changes: Automation will fundamentally change many different aspects of your business processes. Mapping processes upfront helps identify unnecessary steps and potential friction points before you start automating.
• Staff challenges: Some employees might worry that automation will jeopardize their jobs. It’s best to address this fear with transparency and offer detailed communication to illustrate how automation is meant to support employees as they focus on strategic work or customer interactions. Your conversations about automation should involve putting your employees' concerns at ease while explaining its benefits.

Monitor and optimize automation

Automation isn’t a “set it and forget it” task — you should gather performance data to understand how your automation is making a difference. For example, has automating marketing and promotions led to increased sales or higher conversion rates? What can you do if you see no improvement? Based on performance, you should adjust workflows accordingly.

Did you know that over 63% of marketers use AI to automate customer interactions and create content? Consider marketing automation to reduce manual tasks, save time, and deliver customized marketing. Some common examples of marketing automation include:

• Transaction communication and follow-up: You can automate customer communications for each sale — from notifying a customer to following up for reviews.
• Email marketing: Your email marketing list is your most direct customer connection. Automating email marketing lets your brand stay connected to customers with personalized, timely interactions.
• Automated segmentation: Whether targeting high-value customers or sending promotions to audiences that showed interest in the past, automating your segmentation can deliver more targeted marketing and deeper engagement.
• Content and promotions: Automation can support your marketing efforts through content creation, social media marketing, product launches, customer reengagement, and loyalty programs.