How to use Business Process Automation in e-commerce?
- 15 October 2020
The growth of an e-commerce company increases the number of customers and profits, but it also involves more work and duties. Automation and modern technologies, such as AI, enable us to delegate many simple, repetitive tasks to software and intelligent algorithms. How can automation be used by online shops in practice?
Automation of an e-commerce business is a solution to the problems with lack of time. It can streamline the company’s repetitive processes, like expense management, which usually are very time-consuming. It is also a way to reduce the number of employees, generating significant financial savings. To understand the scale and significance of automation in online business, it is worth taking a look at a few important statistics.
• Office workers all around the world spend 69 days per year fulfilling administrative tasks, which costs companies 5 trillion dollars annually.
• Automation allows sellers to dedicate 22% more of their time to actual sales.
• 80% of the companies that use marketing automation have noticed an increase in leads, and 77% of them have recorded an increase in conversions.
How does automation work in e-commerce?
Business process automation is a process that aims to replace, improve or accelerate the manual work done by humans using modern technologies. In the e-commerce industry, automation mostly helps to improve online sales and company processes. Automation is also used to streamline marketing activities, such a as sending marketing e-mails and newsletters or conducting advertising campaigns.
Automate and earn more by using the potential of the market
The e-commerce market is growing every year. The statistics concerning online sales show that between 2016 and 2020 the market grew by 18% per year. The projection for 2020 is even more optimistic – according to eMarketer experts, expect the sales will reach almost 4 trillion dollars globally. In Poland, the situation looks similar; in 2020, the e-commerce market has recorded unprecedented growth – the PMR Experts agency predicts an increase by as much as 25.6%.
On such a fast-growing market, there is no place for companies that do not introduce improvements. All companies should constantly analyse the emerging market trends and be able to adapt to them. In order to do this, companies need time, and time is always lacking. The remedy to this problem is the automation of e-commerce and implementation of solutions that use artificial intelligence (AI).
What can be automated?
Automation of e-commerce can be introduced in many different areas of business, from administrative and technical tasks such as:
• updating the stock levels,
• product pricing and price updates,
• integration with wholesalers, shipping companies and e-commerce platforms,
to actions that have a direct impact on customers:
IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE
It is a good idea to use online chats and chatbots. The solution allows for 24/7 customer service and helps to save plenty of time that would normally be used to respond to e-mail messages or make phone calls. By using a chatbot, you can focus on handling only the most complicated problems and inquiries.
MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Thanks to marketing automation, you can streamline advertising campaigns, for example Google Ads or Facebook Ads. The relevant software will monitor rates for the advertisements and optimise the time when they should be displayed. This leads directly to an increase in sales and the number of customers.
SENDING NEWSLETTERS AND E-MAIL MESSAGES INFORMING ABOUT ORDER STATUS
Nowadays, order tracking has become a standard feature that customers expect from every online shop. Newsletters, in turn, help to build customer engagement and encourage them to buy again. With the e-mail marketing automation tool, you can send e-mail messages/newsletters to thousands of users in just a few seconds!
REMARKETING
This last use of automation will be the perfect solution in the struggle against abandoned shopping carts. Thanks to remarketing, you can reach customers who were at your shop but for some reasons did not make a purchase. It is certainly worth reminding such customers about your shop.
We should also definitely mention another area of business that can be automated. That is monitoring of market prices.
How can automation help to increase profit by 50%?
Every e-commerce company should consider automating the process of regular monitoring of the competitor prices and using the gathered data in their own price policy. Doing this manually is time-consuming and ineffective, as prices can change rapidly.
One of the solutions available for the e-commerce industry is Dealavo Smart Prices. It is a system for price monitoring that, by using advanced algorithms, provides high-quality data about the competition. It also enables setting up e-mail alerts, which inform about major price changes on the market. This way, you can minimise the time needed to detect any changes in prices.
Data alone is not enough, though. It should be used for the automation of pricing, which can be done through the Dynamic Pricing platform. The platform integrates internal data from ERP systems with behavioural and competitor data. It is fully automated to save both time and money. Pricing automation with the help of price rules and AI can increase profit even by 50%, as demonstrated in the case of a client from the sanitary fittings industry. Your company can also benefit from these solutions. Please contact us, and we will be happy to show you all the advantages of automation in e-commerce!