While dropshippers possess the knowledge and skills to run a successful business, managing the workload can be a challenging task. This is primarily due to the lack of awareness about how to automate dropshipping.
Without automation, handling everything manually can be overwhelming and lead to burnout. However, with the help of dropshipping automation, we can reduce our workload, save time, and maintain high efficiency. By automating various aspects of our dropshipping business, we can ensure a more streamlined and successful operation. So, in this article, we’ll explore how to automate our dropshipping business. Let’s see how to work smarter, not harder!
What Is Automated Dropshipping?
Before we learn about Automated Dropshipping, let’s break it down into two words: Automation and Dropshipping. To elaborate, automation uses technology to perform tasks that a human would otherwise do manually. In the context of eCommerce, we can use automation to streamline various aspects of the business, such as product imports, order fulfillment, customer service, and marketing.
On the other hand, dropshipping is an e-commerce business model. Here, the retailer (the dropshipper) lists products for sale on their website or online marketplace without physically stocking them. When a customer orders, the dropshipper purchases the product from a supplier or manufacturer, who then ships the product directly to the customer.
So now, let’s look at automated dropshipping as a whole. Automated dropshipping is using software and apps to automate the various tasks involved in running a dropshipping business.
For example, a dropshipping platform can automate product importing from suppliers’ websites, saving time and effort. Automated dropshipping enables us to fulfill orders, monitor inventory levels, and automatically set pricing.
Other tasks we can automate in dropshipping businesses include customer service and marketing. With automation, dropshippers can manage their business without hiring additional staff, increasing profitability and scalability.
What Are The Advantages Of Automated Dropshipping?
Now, let’s talk about some benefits of automated dropshipping. By automating the dropshipping process, we can streamline our operations, eliminate manual tasks, and reduce the risk of errors. Therefore, we can achieve improved efficiency. Additionally, dropshipping automation can help us reduce errors and avoid costly mistakes.
With dropshipping automation, most of our manual operations, such as filling in product details and customer addresses, are automated. As a result, it saves time and effort. Furthermore, we can quickly scale our business by adding products or handling multiple stores simultaneously.
All in all, dropshipping provides us with the freedom to focus on more crucial aspects of our business.
How To Automate Dropshipping: A Complete Tutorial
Now that we know about the benefits of dropshipping automation, let’s go over a step-by-step guide on how to automate dropshipping:
- Link Your Dropshipping Store To An Automation Tool
- Find Winning Products: Automated Product Research
- Import Products Automatically To Your Store
- Optimize Product Listings With An Automated Dropshipping Tool
- Monitor Stock & Price From Dropshipping Suppliers
- Set Up Automatic Price Optimization For Your Store
- Automate Order Fulfillment & Tracking Number Updates
- Track Your Sales With One-Screen Inventory Management
- Automate Marketing For Your Dropshipping Store
We can also integrate our selling channels with AutoDS. It is a leading dropshipping platform that automates our dropshipping businesses on selling channels such as:
Customizable eCommerce Platforms
eCommerce Marketplace
Now, let’s learn how to perform these steps. Below, we will use Shopify as an example. Furthermore, we will also go over other selling channels further below.
1. Link Your Dropshipping Store To An Automation Tool
To begin automating our store, we must link our store to dropshipping software. For demonstration, let’s connect our Shopify store with the AutoDS dropshipping tool. Now, you might be wondering why AutoDS. As one of the best dropshipping automation software, AutoDS offers an all-in-one solution to help us automate and streamline our Shopify dropshipping operations.
This has been proven again and again by various dropshippers like Michael, who uses AutoDS to scale his business. Now, let’s get into the action!
First, we need to create a Shopify store and an AutoDS account. After creating and signing in, go to the AutoDS dashboard. Head over to the left-hand menu, click ‘Add Stores’ under the AutoDS logo, and select Shopify Store as the store type.
Now, add the AutoDS app to your Shopify store, and select the Shopify account you are using. Finally, click “Install app” to connect it with the Shopify store.
See how simple that was? In a few seconds, we connected our dropshipping store with a dropshipping automation tool.
2. Find Winning Products: Automated Product Research
When dropshipping, finding a quality product to sell is crucial. A well-chosen product not only meets the needs of our target audience but also drives profitability. This is why dropshippers must conduct thorough product research before listing any items for sale.
In general, we can either manually research products or do it automatically. The manual method allows us to search for products in various places, such as supplier’s websites, Google Trends, and the AliExpress Dropshipping Center. While manual research is effective, it takes up a lot of our time.
On the other hand, automatic product research means using dropshipping tools to find profitable products for us. For instance, we can take advantage of the AutoDS Winning Products Hub to instantly find trending and in-demand products.
When we select a product, the winning products hub provides us with advanced insights about the product. For example, we can see the product’s FB ad engagement, competitor pricing, and profit potential.
Additionally, we can also learn about the target audience so we can tailor our marketing campaigns. This tool is hugely popular among dropshippers as it helps us find many winning products swiftly.
Once we have a list of high-potential products, we can further filter the list with the product research spreadsheet. It contains a series of important questions that we must answer about selected products. This gives us more clarity and helps to narrow down the winning products. Overall, AutoDS can save us a lot of time and effort when finding profitable products to sell.
3. Import Products Automatically To Your Store
Once we identify winning products, we must import them into our store. This can be done either manually or automatically. In the manual method, we go to the supplier’s website and copy product details such as titles, descriptions, images, and variations. Then we paste them into our stores. For multiple product imports, we repeat the same steps repeatedly, which can be overwhelming.
By using automatic importing, we can easily import products with just a few clicks. The dropshipping tool handles manual tasks, saving us valuable time while minimizing errors. With that said, the AutoDS product importer is one of the best importing tools for dropshippers. Here are four key features of the AutoDS product importer:
- One-click Importer
- Single Product Importer
- Multiple Product Importer
- Bulk Upload with a CSV File
So, let’s see how we can import multiple products in a few seconds with the bulk importing feature:
- Install the AutoDS Dropshipping Helper Extension
- Go to AliExpress (the supplier’s website) and search for the products to import.
- On the item search page, click on the AutoDS logo in the bottom right corner.
- Click on “Extract.”
- Then, tap “Export as CSV,” and it will download a CSV file.
- Head to the AutoDS platform and click + (Add products).
- Choose Multiple Products/Stores
- Now, from the dialog box, choose Upload CSV and upload the file we just downloaded
Once the upload is complete, click on the Add as a draft button. This will upload the whole list of products on the AutoDS drafts page. Not only does AutoDS automatically import the product, but it also extracts titles, descriptions, and images. Similarly, it also imports product variants.
From the drafts page, we can enhance the listings from our drafts page by optimizing their titles, images, descriptions, and variations. Overall, by utilizing AutoDS’ product importing tool, we can import thousands of products simultaneously. This saves us significant time and minimizes the effort required compared to performing the task manually.
4. Optimize Product Listings With An Automated Dropshipping Tool
Before listing the imported products in our store, we need to optimize our product listing. Optimization helps us to stand out from the competition and ensures our product page is unique and SEO-friendly. With that said, we can either optimize manually or automatically. In the manual method, we optimize product listings by editing each product on our selling channel.
On the other hand, the AutoDS drafts page allows us to optimize the product listing swiftly. On the drafts page, we can enhance product information such as its titles, images, descriptions, or variations. For instance, we can shorten the supplier-provided product title to make it more SEO-friendly and professional.
Beginner’s Tip: We can use ChatGPT to enhance our product titles and descriptions. This AI tool helps us create professional and engaging titles and descriptions.
Similarly, we can edit images with the help of AutoDS’ advanced image editor. To enhance an image, go to the draft page, click on the images tab, and select one of the product images. Then, click edit, and we can begin editing.
Here is a quick example. In this image, we are cropping out the bottom part to make it look professional.
Likewise, we can also add our custom title and brand messages by adding text to the image. Overall, enhancing product images personalizes our listing, helping us increase our sales.
5. Monitor Stock & Price From Dropshipping Suppliers
To maintain our store’s credibility, we must have a reliable price and stock monitoring tool for our dropshipping business. It can be challenging to keep track of changes in pricing and inventory manually. Without an automatic tool, monitoring stock and prices from our supplier’s websites would be time-consuming. Plus, it would be impossible to keep up with increasing sales.
With that in mind, AutoDS has built a proven price and stock monitoring tool that monitors our supplier’s stock and price changes 24/7. This ensures we are always up-to-date on any changes, allowing us to adjust our prices accordingly. With the information, we can adjust our prices accordingly and maintain healthy profit margins.
Here is how to set it up in our Shopify stores. Go to the AutoDS dashboard and click on Settings. Then, click on Supplier Settings. From this screen, go to the ‘General’ tab and set the minimum product quantity. This ensures that our products are automatically kept on hold if the product quantity goes below available units.
Then, click on Pricing and set profit margins. Moreover, we can avoid being caught off guard by sudden changes. This eliminates the risk of selling products at a loss or failing to fulfill customer orders. Overall, AutoDS’s price and stock monitoring tool is essential for any dropshipping business wanting to stay ahead of the game and maximize profits.
6. Set Up Automatic Price Optimization For Your Store
Besides stock and price monitoring, our profits depend on proper product pricing. With that in mind, the AutoDS automatic price optimization tool enables us to maximize our profits by optimally setting a product’s price. Essentially, this feature automatically raises prices for best-selling products and reduces them for products that don’t sell well.
Plus, this tool saves our time by automating the pricing process. Dropshippers no longer have to spend hours analyzing market data and adjusting prices manually. Instead, they can rely on AutoDS to handle these tasks, freeing up our time.
To set up automatic price optimization, go to the AutoDS dashboard and tap on the Settings icon. Now choose Automation from the tab and click on Add Automation. Finally, give it a name and click on Next.
From this dialog box, we can set when to increase or decrease our pricing and by how much.
All in all, AutoDS’s automatic price optimization feature is a game-changer for dropshippers looking to maximize their profits and increase sales conversions.
7. Automate Order Fulfillment & Tracking Number Updates
Once we begin generating sales, fulfilling customer orders becomes a crucial task. As such, there are two ways to fulfill orders: manual and automatic.
In the manual method, we visit the supplier’s website, fill in customer information, order, and pay. This process can become tedious and time-consuming, especially when there are multiple daily orders to fulfill.
On the other hand, AutoDS offers automatic fulfillment options that can save time and labor. The Automatic Orders and Fulfilled By AutoDS features allow the software to fulfill orders on our behalf, streamlining the process.
Automatic Orders
AutoDS’s automatic ordering tool eases the order fulfillment process by automatically processing customer orders. When fulfilling orders, this tool utilizes our buyer accounts to order and purchase from suppliers.
Buyer accounts are our accounts on the supplier’s websites. These accounts are linked with payment methods like PayPal or credit cards.
Additionally, automatic orders send automatic tracking updates to our customers, making it easy for them to track their orders without contacting us. This not only improves the customer experience but also reduces our workload.
Fulfilled By AutoDS
Fulfilled by AutoDS is an exclusive feature for AutoDS users. It offers a comprehensive order fulfillment solution that includes order fulfillment, tracking information updates, and one-click returns.
Unlike Automatic Orders, Fulfilled by AutoDS does not use our buyer accounts and payment methods to fulfill orders. Instead, we can automatically fulfill customer orders using the platform’s loaded balance (AutoCredits). This ensures that our buyer accounts are fully protected from being locked.
Like Automatic Orders, Fulfilled by AutoDS also automatically sends tracking information updates to customers after they place an order. Moreover, Fulfilled by AutoDS offers one-click returns, which enables us to process returns and refunds in a single click. This simplifies the returns process for our customers and us.
Overall, we can efficiently fulfill customer orders with the AutoDS order fulfillment tools.
8. Track Your Sales With One-Screen Inventory Management
Managing multiple stores and various inventory from various suppliers? No problem! With a one-screen inventory management system, we can easily keep track of all our stock – no matter if we have one or multiple dropshipping stores!
To help online sellers, the AutoDS inventory management tool provides them with an effortless way to efficiently manage their products across multiple stores. This tool provides a complete overview of all products in one dashboard. This means we can manage inventory and monitor sales performance across our Shopify store from a single screen. As a result, we can save ourselves headaches from manually checking everything.
9. Automate Marketing For Your Dropshipping Store
Finally, we have to market our store if we want to run a successful and profitable business. We can also automate our marketing so that we are only doing the crucial tasks and leaving the rest to dropshipping automation tools.
Here are five ways to automate marketing for our dropshipping stores:
- Facebook Pixel
- Email automation
- Automate ad tracking
- Automate social media posts
- Automate reviews for social proof
Facebook Pixel
Facebook Pixel is a powerful tool that allows us to automate our marketing efforts and improve our advertising performance. By installing Facebook Pixel on our website, we can track visitor activity, collect data, and use it to optimize our ads and target audiences.
One way to automate marketing with Facebook Pixel is through automatic event tracking. This feature allows Facebook Pixel to track website events, such as page views, clicks, and purchases. Furthermore, by learning how to create and run Facebook ads, we can maximize our marketing budget on the platform and generate higher profits.
Email Automation
Email marketing is an effective way to communicate with existing customers and promote products via email. We can increase engagement and generate leads by sending information about offers, events, or products.
To automate email marketing, we can use email marketing apps like Automizely and SendinBlue. These apps automate sending promotional emails to customers, making it more straightforward to market products and services effectively. With these tools, we can create and send emails quickly and reach a wider audience. As a result, it improves our email marketing campaigns.
Automate Ad Tracking
Tracking competitors’ ads can help us gain insights into industry trends and identify potential gaps or opportunities in the market. Plus, it improves our ad targeting by analyzing competitor strategies. Methods for competitor ad tracking include using ad monitoring tools, tracking competitor keywords, and more.
Some handy tools that automate ad tracking are Nabu Tracking and Ecomhunt. By understanding what works for competitors, we can optimize our advertising campaigns for tremendous success.
Automate Social Media Posts
Social media platforms are great for free marketing. So why not automate them to promote our products? Automating social media posts provides a cost-effective way to reach a wider audience and attract organic traffic.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are great platforms to promote our products. As such, Hootsuite, Loomly, and Canva are some great tools to automate social media posts.
Automate Reviews For Social Proof
Social proof is necessary for businesses because it provides credibility and builds trust with potential customers. As such, we can manage and import product reviews for our stores with automation tools.
Then, reviews can be displayed on our dropshipping website or social media pages.
With that in mind, we can use apps like Judge.me and Loox. These apps are review collection and display tools that dropshippers can use for social proof.
With the right marketing automation tools, we can stay competitive and grow our dropshipping business.
Overall, these were the nine essential steps to automate our dropshipping business. Evidently, embracing automation helps us to achieve more in less time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Can I Automate My eBay Dropshipping Business?
We can automate our eBay dropshipping business with the AutoDS eBay dropshipping tool. This tool offers advanced features, including automated importing, fulfillment, and price optimization. Similarly, it also helps us with product research, inventory management, and more.
How Can I Automate My Shopify Dropshipping Business?
If we have a Shopify dropshipping business, we can automate it with the AutoDS Shopify dropshipping tool. Once connected with AutoDS, We can easily import products from various suppliers, such as AliExpress, eBay, and Walmart, to our store in a few clicks and manage their prices and stock levels in real-time.
How Can I Automate My Wix Dropshipping Business?
We can automate our dropshipping business on Wix with the AutoDS Wix dropshipping tool. It provides a simple and efficient solution for managing our Wix dropshipping stores’ products, prices, and orders.
How Can I Automate My Amazon Dropshipping Business?
The AutoDS Amazon dropshipping tool has everything we need for our Amazon dropshipping business. With AutoDS, you can easily import products to Amazon, automatically update their prices and stock levels, and manage orders and shipping with just a few clicks.
Conclusion
Hooray! Now we can fully integrate automation tools into our dropshipping store and let it do all the heavy lifting. Avoiding tedious tasks increases our likelihood of expanding our store and generating more revenue.
As we learned, automation can accelerate our business growth. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The actual value of automation is realized when we understand all aspects of dropshipping.
To achieve mastery in dropshipping and gain valuable insights, we can refer to the following articles for further guidance:
