Amazon Automation Tools and How they Can Benefit Your Business
If you’re an ecommerce business owner selling through Amazon, you're well aware that this venture is far from a set-it-and-forget-it operation. It demands a significant chunk of your time, effort and commitment. As you look to scale and enhance your business, embracing Amazon automation becomes not just a choice but a necessity to free up your schedule by automating routine tasks.
While it can be feasible to undertake this yourself, Amazon automation providers often offer comprehensive solutions that help to optimize your everyday processes. But what encompasses Amazon automation, and how can it revolutionize your ecommerce endeavors? This guide delves into the essence of Amazon automation for ecommerce enterprises, offering tips on employing various tools to implement these automated processes effectively.
What Is Amazon Automation?
Amazon automation refers to when a business owner automates all of the processes of their ecommerce store so that they can focus on other tasks that can grow their store through Amazon. The goal is to cut down on costs associated with labor as well as boosting the efficiency of processes so that the company is able to sell more products, and quicker.
The Amazon automation business has been the talk of the internet, as companies have sprung up promising Amazon automation services. But you don’t have to hire another company to do it for you -- this is something you can implement in your own business using a number of available tools.
If you’re wondering how to do Amazon automation or how Amazon automation works, the truth is it's a lot like automating other consumer businesses -- but slightly different, since you're selling through Amazon.
Generally, these Amazon ecommerce-specific tools fall into the following groups:
Inventory management (warehouse operations done for you)
Order fulfillment (stop picking and packing your own orders)
Advertising (let artificial intelligence manage your bidding strategy)
Email marketing (automate your most common customer touchpoints)
Pricing (optimize your pricing)
Customer Service (automate common interactions with customers)
Next, we’ll dive into each of these categories and some Amazon automation services you can use to automate them.
Read more: How To Use Amazon Vendor Central Data To Grow Your Ecommerce Business
Automation Software Tools You Can Use to Run Your Amazon Business
An Amazon automation investment is going to include purchasing certain software tools that your business needs to turn manual processes into automated actions. For those who aren't interested in hiring Amazon data automation providers and are struggling to figure out how to set up Amazon automation, often the best strategy is to implement one tool at a time rather than completely overhaul your processes.
Inventory
For ecommerce companies that sell through Amazon, automated warehouse operations would save a tremendous amount of money and time. And there are companies that offer this kind of service. When choosing a software option in this category, small businesses generally should aim for one that solves some of the basic inventory management needs, like keeping inventory updated so you aren’t having to manually enter everything all the time.
Sellbrite is a good option because it is geared toward small businesses and uses a simple interface that's easy to understand and manage. It doesn't have a lot of the advanced options, but it will automate a lot of the basic functions. For example, it uses a syncing process to update inventory data and prevent products from going out of stock.
Brightpearl is an inventory management system geared toward Amazon ecommerce companies that aim to boost efficiency and keep fulfillment on time while avoiding understocking. Orderhive is a good option for companies that want a more comprehensive inventory tracking tool with order syncing capabilities.
Order Fulfillment
When a customer buys your product off Amazon, that's great, but that order means nothing if you aren't able to fulfill it. The problem is this requires a lot of manual labor, from packaging the item to shipping it out. Automating processes in this category will save you a lot of time.
If you've been trying to do the fulfillment yourself, it's not surprising you're overwhelmed. Many small businesses end up in this trap. But there are companies that can handle this aspect of your business, and considering the time saved doing it this way, it may be more cost-effective than doing it on your own.
For example, ShipBob is a third-party logistics (3PL) company that offers an all-in-one solution for Amazon ecommerce companies. They have a fulfillment network and have warehouses around the country to ensure your customer gets your product in a timely and satisfactory manner.
Red Stag Fulfillment is another 3PL company that is good for small- and medium-sized e-commerce companies that operate through Amazon. ShipMonk is good for companies who want a 3PL service that integrates with their sales channels.
Advertising
Advertising is often an afterthought for small ecommerce companies who are so caught up in filling orders or managing inventory, but you cannot neglect this facet of your business.
However, you don't need to spend a lot of time because plenty of platforms are willing to do it for you. Feedvisor uses artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to optimize an advertising campaign automatically, while continuing to update it based on new data that's coming in.
Another AI-powered advertising tool is Teikametrics, which lets you set individual product-level goals and then creates an optimized advertising campaign. Helium 10 is another popular option, with tools that help you boost conversions and identify the best products to offer in your next ad campaign.
Marketing
As an ecommerce company, you've probably got an email list, but email marketing is not the strong suit for a lot of ecommerce companies. If you want to ensure you're properly marketing to your customers, it's not necessarily to manually tweak every campaign before it goes out. In fact, it's vital that you automate this part of your business as much as you can.
Mailchimp is a popular platform for email marketing, since it allows you to conduct A/B testing and create automated email campaigns using various templates. You'll probably have to run some tests and see what results in the best response, but after that the software has the tools to run future campaigns for you, meaning you only need to check in once in a while to launch a new campaign or make sure everything is on track.
If you're looking for something a bit simpler than Mailchimp, you can use Shopify Email, which is fairly minimalist in its design and prioritizes being easy to use. For those who don't mind a little more complexity and want more multi-channel automation options, Omnisend is an option worth exploring.
Pricing
Every ecommerce company that depends on Amazon knows the importance of "repricing." When you're competing against multiple sellers and vendors, you need to stay one step ahead when it comes to price because that has a big impact on whether the customer will purchase your product or your competitor's offering.
If you're a super-small company with a tiny inventory, you can do this manually, but trying to manage a growing business while keeping on top of the constant price changes is virtually impossible. And if you've been trying to do it anyway, you're likely feeling burnt out and wondering what automation can do for you.
But there are tools that can automate this process. RepricerExpress is one example, and it allows Amazon sellers to create customized pricing plans and set up guidelines so that a listing can fluctuate between maximum and minimum price settings. Bqool has a feature that allows you to choose which of your competitors to run certain repricing schemes against. RepriceIt is good for small companies on a budget, with plans starting at under $10 per month.
Customer Service
Customer service can also be a significant time suck for an ecommerce business. Dealing with customer requests and complaints can quickly eat up a large chunk of your day, increasing your to-do list and making you feel overwhelmed by everything you have to get done once you fall behind.
But tools can manage the customer experience while minimizing your input as the business owner. FeedbackWhiz is one Amazon seller software platform that integrates customer and order data on one screen, automates many accounting functions, and creates customized emails to ensure that your customers feel heard.
FreshDesk is a good option for sellers who are looking to improve response times while automating ticketing. Additionally, their analytics tools will help you spot opportunities to automate further. There's also Intercom, which has customer support bots that can automate most of your interactions with customers.
Automate Data Collection to Grow Your Business
There’s one last area that you can automate that we haven’t discussed, and that’s data. Data automation is another facet where Amazon automation can bring substantial benefits. Understanding your business performance in detail allows for informed decision-making and strategic planning. Yet, navigating Amazon's dashboard for comprehensive data can be challenging. You can only download broad reports on a daily basis, and it’s difficult to compare specific ASINs or custom date ranges.
Fortunately, there are many Amazon product data automation providers out there that Amazon sellers and vendors use collect and analyze data. However, it’s not always easy to determine which is best for your company. Download our whitepaper, "Turn Amazon Data Into a Strategic Asset,” to determine the best option for you. It’s available below.
READ MORE:
Turn Amazon Data into a strategic Asset
The breadth of Amazon sales, marketing, and supply chain data lets brands find patterns and insights to optimize their Amazon business and other e-commerce channels. But only if you have a plan for extracting the data from Amazon systems, storing it, and preparing it for analysis.
This guide will help you take ownership of your Amazon data—by preparing your business for a data-driven future, and analyzing the most common methods for extraction, automation, storage, and management.
