You’re Probably Losing Money by not Using Automation in Your eCommerce Business

Automation is one of the youngest terms, and it was coined not more than 60 years ago. Yet, it has become an integral part of our daily lives and eCommerce Business.

People thought that automation would reduce wage earners to mere slave laborers and bring an economic depression worse than the ’30s. But, with increasing automation applications over the years, it was visibly evident that man is becoming automation’s master rather than a slave.

All of us are surrounded by some automation in our daily lives. Using a thermostat to run a furnace or auto-pay the utility bills, commanding Alexa to do the routine tasks, use phone apps to order food, banking, shopping, etc., have made our lives quick, easy, and convenient. 

Automation has made businesses run conveniently and easily, especially for eCommerce entrepreneurs. You automate almost all eCommerce-related tasks by incorporating various shipping softwares, accounting softwares, inventory, and warehouse management software in the business. 

As you can automate routine tasks, eCommerce entrepreneurs have a chance to maintain a better work-life balance.

Automation was first introduced in the field of marketing (also known as eCommerce Marketing Automation), where you have to automate sending emails to prospective buyers with special discounts and offers. 

For example, sending welcome emails to your customers the moment they register on your portal, announcing amazing holiday offers on buying things from the portal, etc.

But, with passing time, automation spread across various fields to accomplish the tasks. You can automate eCommerce business tasks using multiple tools. Below are some tasks that you can automate with the related eCommerce automated tools:

• Receive orders from different channels and execute them automatically on the software.
• Auto-update order details.
• Create the picking and packing list.
• Track the  inventory  accurately sitting on your desk.
• Manage inventory across multiple channels.
• Keep the inventory count up to date across channels.
• Low stock alerts when you run out out-of-stock for the products.
• Generate invoices when the customer makes payment and orders the product from your portal.
• Dropshipping automation lets you send orders you receive from the customers directly to the supplier from the system.
• Buy shipping labels from different shipping providers.
• Print shipping labels when required by setting a business rule.
• Track the shipments.
• Integrate with eCommerce channels, accounting software, shipping partners, and import/export data with automated rules.  

Read more: Top Benefits of eCommerce Automation

A good eCommerce solution reduces the working hours of a human almost by half. Here is how it is:

Time-Saving

Whether you want to generate invoices for the customers, prepare a picking and packing list for your warehouse, or prepare shipping labels – automate does it all on behalf of your staff once you set the business rules.

It frees up their time, and you can use that time for other important tasks to grow your business or spend quality time with family and friends.

Effort Saving

Since automation does the work by itself, you can spare yourself from doing that task daily once you set the rules. Setting up automation is just a one-time thing, and then you can happily live your life while the system is working on your behalf.

Keeps you Stress-Free

The automated tasks run on themselves, and hence you need not worry about doing those routine tasks repeatedly. It frees you from the stress of routine tasks and enables you to live a carefree life with family and friends.

Read about: How Automation can Boost Your eCommerce Profit

As per the article of Forbes on ‘The Upside of Automation,’ automation will create new jobs, increase productivity, and change roles for workers. It will positively impact the eCommerce industry and all other sectors like manufacturing, food, service, banking, etc.

“Over the next five years, workers will do less predictable physical work, data processing, and information collection. There will be many more automatic real-time data feeds and data monitoring, requiring no workers to enter and analyze it.

Plus, there will be more work on the other hand where people will spend time making decisions based on the data collected, managing others, and applying their expertise.” 

As per McKinsey Global Institute, new technology and automation will impact workforces across the globe. It should not be a surprise that the jobs most susceptible to automation involve physical tasks or operating machines in a physically predictable way.

Plus, the estimate says that it is technically feasible to automate 78 percent of the activities, the highest rate after reviewing all the seven job categories. The highest percentage of such types of jobs lies in the manufacturing, food, accommodation, and retail industry.

Sales and customer service jobs lie on the other end of the spectrum in the manufacturing sector, as only 30 percent of the work is automated. That’s because it involves judgment-based decision-making and interpersonal communication skills.

Productivity will skyrocket with automation and will benefit workers and companies. Technology fuels company growth and creates new jobs and product lines. It will be more critical for companies to reinvest in workers’ capacity and retraining. 

Automation can handle up to 45 percent of repetitive work and gives workers time for more higher-value tasks like problem-solving, finding solutions, and generating new ideas. It will empower employees and develop a more engaging and challenging work experience. 

Read more: Automated Order Management System for eCommerce

The growing trend of using automation in small and mid-scale industries indicates that technological advancement is not just limited to big giants like Amazon in the eCommerce business. 

Automation is for everyone and eases out not only the way of working for entrepreneurs but also helps to save time that can be used to increase productivity or spend more time with family and friends. 

So, if you are not using automation, then you are definitely losing money in your eCommerce business because time is money.