Automation of processes in the e-shop
This article is intended to serve as inspiration for e-shop owners and is intended to discuss in detail the possibilities of automating processes in e-shops. Every business and e-shop is different, therefore some tips cannot be applied to every e-shop manager. Some platforms have some of the functionality mentioned below ready-made. With open source platforms, it is possible that there is a plugin for some functionality.
The article was revised and updated in May 2026. Check with specific service providers for technical information.
For a large part of the processes that will be mentioned, there is SAAS (software as a service), an online service that just needs to be set up correctly or connected via an API.
I see the future in connecting such external services and systems, and whoever chooses such an ecosystem correctly and connects it to their platform will win.
If an e-commerce business has its own IT department and knows how to program customized functionality, it can also significantly differentiate it from the competition, because it will have the flow of data and processes under absolute control.
Automation goals
Reduce resource costs
– mostly the time and number of people serving the e-shop
- administrators
- storekeepers
- buyers
- marketers
- support
Reduce the error rate
- when processing orders
- for complaints and returns
- when making payments
- when ordering goods from suppliers
- in stock quantities
- in prices and discounts
- in communication with the customer
Increase conversions
- more passable basket
- automatic online tools
- time or quantity pressures
- loyalty programs
- increase customer reference
- displaying the right content at the right moment
Better communication with customers
- sending automatic personalized emails
- automatic analysis and customer segmentation into groups in CRM
Better work with data
- easily accessible data
- linked data sources
- more efficient work with data
Automation ordersok
Automatic export of orders to the ERP system
If you use an ERP system, this is the basis. Subsequently, you can automate the creation of invoices, and the main thing is that the data does not have to be rewritten manually. When ordering from a new customer, his contact data should also be entered into the ERP, which means that a new customer is usually created.
Sending notification SMS when the status of the order changes
In addition to sending an email, some eshops also send an SMS message. This can be solved using an SMS gateway that you connect to an e-shop or an ERP system.
Payments
Automatic marking of the subscription as paid after payment through the payment gateway
This is mostly standard functionality of boxed solutions. The payment gateway returns data to the e-shop system about the successful progress and redirects back to the e-shop.
Automatic email with the possibility of re-payment after an unsuccessful payment through the payment gateway
It may happen that during the payment the customer interrupts the payment process and such an order must be marked in the e-shop system as pending payment and ideally display a screen with an alternative payment option, or send payment options to an email.
Customers
Creating tickets
If you use a customer support system such as liveagent, new chat questions, new email questions, new inquiry forms should be automatically transferred to that system and a new thread created. Every question from the customer should be answered in turn.
Export of users to the CRM system
If you use a CRM, you should have all users in the system who meet certain conditions defined by you. If it is, for example, B2B sales, you want to work with your customers on a regular basis. In the CRM, you should have a record of the last order, purchase history as well as communication. If you also use some customer classification, then also the group. Your employees then know how to approach the given customer, or the customer has their own salesperson assigned to them.
Follow-up notifications in CRM
By this I mean the setting in CRM. If you have a customer assigned to the VIP customer group, for example, you can set up a follow-up, for example, that one of your salespeople will contact him once a month. I have already seen notifications for name days, birthdays, the anniversary of the first order.
Automatic purchase feedback
Some time after the order, you can send a satisfaction questionnaire to the customer. You can also use eureka, as long as you use it. You should have but assigned consent for this purchase satisfaction survey.
Sending newsletters
A very big topic. Ideally, use some reasonable automaton that sends personalized newsletters.
Sending an email about an incomplete purchase
If a logged-in user puts something in the cart, we can send an email with the contents of the cart and prompt him to complete the purchase.
Showing an ad about an incomplete purchase
On social networks or in banners on websites, we can dynamically generate a banner with the goods that the user visited in your e-shop.
Visibility of prices and discounts for registered customers
If your customers have been assigned their own price lists or discounts, they should see their prices after logging in. These prices should be automatically pulled from the ERP system. Based on our experience, I recommend calculating discounts and prices in one system and adding the calculated prices to others, since if they are calculated in several places, there may be slight deviations in the resulting prices. Cent adjustment, or difference in VAT calculation, etc.
Automatic allocation of customers to price groups
If you have set up a loyalty program for existing customers, you can automatically assign customers to price groups. For one of our clients, we set up the system so that if the cumulative volume of all orders exceeds a certain limit, it is automatically assigned to the corresponding group with a percentage discount for further purchases.
Watchdog
If the customer is interested in the selected product, he can save a watchdog and as soon as the price of the product changes, he is automatically notified by email. You can also set a notification when the warehouse status changes. In cases where the goods are not in stock and the situation changes, the customer will receive information about this.
Automatic posting on social networks
Na facebooku ako aj na instagrame sa dá naplánovať dopredu publikovanie príspevkov a viete si pripraviť obsah dopredu. Existuje niekoľko online nástrojov, ktoré vám distribúciu obsahu na sociálnych sieťach pomôžu zefektívniť – Hootsuite, Buffer, Kontentino.
Chatbot
Within the chat window in the e-shop, you can also use a chatbot that can be trained and can answer the basic questions of e-shop customers using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Recording of telephone calls through the virtual switchboard
Such a solution is nothing new. It is ideal to save these calls by phone number in the CRM to the relevant customer. If you use the Google Cloud Speech API service, you can transcribe the recording into text so that you can search the text more easily.
Automatic filling of company data
In the order when entering company data, it is possible to use the service Autoform from slovensko.digital, which will complete all data from the register. Just enter a few letters from the name of the company and choose the right company, or you can enter anything else. It saves time for new e-shop customers who are entrepreneurs.
Repeat orders
This functional feature is especially great for the client. In the client zone, you can download the invoice from the order history and possibly repeat the order. One solution is to create a basket with the same products from the original order.
Monitoring the customer's set purchase limit
If the customer exceeds the limit in a certain time, you can reward him with the amount of the discount. It is mostly used by B2B e-shops, but it can also be applied for B2C sales.
Product reviews
One of the options for automating reviews is to use eureka services. They have a whole ecosystem built for reviews, but you don't have that much control over those reviews. But users know it. Don't forget that customers have to give you their consent.
You can also use your own system where you approve which reviews should be displayed.
Automatic matching of complaints with orders
If you have goods that are often advertised or returned, then it is a good idea to create a complaints sub-page, where the logged-in customer can enter the order number and the products from the order will be fetched and he can choose which one to advertise. You can show him the relevant form, which he will print, and you can also show him the procedure for sending the goods back.
Automatic evaluation of purchase on eureka
This is related to the reviews mentioned above. After a certain time from the order, Eureka sends an email asking you to evaluate the purchase, if you have it connected to your e-shop. How satisfied was the customer with the purchase at your e-shop, with communication and with the goods themselves.
Synchronization of documents and data
Invoices from the ERP or accounting system to the e-shop
Most e-shop owners make documents in ERP systems. It is advisable to get them to the customer zone for the customer. He doesn't have to call you to send an invoice.
Export agenda to accounting
If you make invoices in the e-shop, it is advisable to export accounting items and invoices to the accounting system in order to avoid errors. Sometimes it can be done via API on a regular basis, sometimes it is enough to make a monthly report.
Automatic accounting of items
Also, many accountants still invoice for their services based on the number of posted items, so if you manage to automate it at least a little, you can save a lot of budget.
Logistics and warehouse
Control of orders during removal
It is ideal to use EAN codes or QR codes and scan each product when picking it up, and if you drink everything, then the order is in order. We used a free QR point application for one client. When reading a QR code, you can send the read Hash to the URL specified by you, on which the control mechanism runs. You don't have to buy expensive scanners or develop your own mobile app.
Automatic export of orders for carriers
We usually solve this on the side of the ERP system. Some carriers can be connected via API directly to their system.
Printing labels for carriers
It is ideal to print labels directly from carriers. If the carrier does not provide it, then a clever programmer can make the labels into PDF in the required format and you can print it on a printer.
Marking of goods in stock
I would mark the positions in the warehouse with a QR code and numbers. For example Room, Row, Shelf. QR code for scanning and numbers for people.
Marking of goods
For your own products, you need to buy the EAN range. Therefore, it is better to use the QR code.
Export of orders to the fulfillment partner's system
Most fulfillment partners have an API. It should definitely be watered.
Mass change of warehouse status
This is mostly handled directly by ERP. Or you can do it by uploading a bulk price list, for example in CSV, directly to the e-shop.
Reservation of goods in the order
If you have limited quantities of goods with a relatively large margin, or you allow bulk orders for B2B customers, it is advisable to reserve the selected goods for a certain time after logging in.
Ordering goods from suppliers
Ideally, if you agree on mutual order formats and connect your ERP to the supplier's ERP. Unfortunately, the reality is usually lengthy and sometimes impossible.
Display of warehouse status from external suppliers
If your supplier allows it from his feed, then display this information.
Synchronization of products from external supplier sources
It is mostly done through feeds from suppliers. Sometimes they still need to be pre-chewed with some script into the desired shape. In particular, almost every supplier has its own data formats.
Training of employees
We recommend creating a company wiki. Also describe as many processes as possible with process maps. Another option is checklists.
Sending daily reports of orders to email
We did this for one client, because he wants to have an overview of orders in the morning via email.
Emails
Automatic emails on occasions
When you have customer names in the database, you can send them a purchase coupon in a personalized email.
On the anniversary of the purchase
You should have the date of the customer's first order in the database and you can please him with a personalized email with a coupon or other benefit.
Notification emails after the order status changes
Most e-shop solutions already have this functionality in the base. A problem can arise if status changes are made in the ERP system and it must notify the e-shop that the status has changed and the e-shop should send an email. In these notification emails, it is also advisable to insert a note from the administrator if it is important for the customer.
Reminder of incomplete cart
If the logged-in user does not complete the purchase, you can send him an e-mail asking him to complete the cart and thus remind him that he may have forgotten.
Automatic immediate response after sending an email
If a customer contacts you via email, you can send him an automatic email that you have noted his request and that you will contact him within a certain time.
Advertising
Automatic pricing in advertising systems
Great topic. Price reduction based on competition on eureka or Google Shopping. I personally don't like this technique, but there are tools for it.
Affiliate commissions
It is usually solved by an affiliate network. If you want your own affiliate system, you need an ideally ready-made platform in which you can set the conditions.
Data studio
Display multiple data sources in one place
To create dashboards for displaying and analyzing data, I recommend getting them all into the tool from Google - Datastudio. Agencies also usually report in this tool. Don't forget to get the accounting data there as well.
Brick store
Printing a block at the brick-and-mortar store at the checkout
It is mostly solved by an ERP system connected to the cash register.
Products
Price conversion according to the exchange rate
I do not recommend making price changes on a daily basis.
Basket
Automatic transport selection
According to Geoip, we can display the preferred transport options. But it is not one hundred percent.
Automatic calculation of the transport price
This is done according to the weight of the order, or if there are other conditions.
Automated increase in the shipping price in the case of cash on delivery
It is mostly solved when choosing the transport.
Goods insurance
It can be connected to external services via API.
Content of the e-shop
Scheduled sale
It is mostly handled by the e-shop. Do not forget that the discount setting for the given period is also related to the promotional banners.
Planning the visibility of banners
These are mostly campaigns for a certain period. You don't have to think about it or turn off the banner at night.
Automatic publication of planned blog articles
Mostly enabled by CMS. Publication plans can be prepared in advance.
Automatic setting of currency and language according to GEOIP
When the e-shop is loaded for the first time, the location of the device can be detected and languages and menus can be set based on this. It is convenient that it can be changed manually.
