Are you tired of spending hours fulfilling orders, tracking inventory, and managing shipping for your dropshipping business? As an entrepreneur, handling all these tasks alone can quickly become overwhelming.

That’s where automated dropshipping comes in. It lets you automate repetitive tasks and focus on growing your business. By using the right tools and services, you can run your dropshipping business on autopilot.

What is automated dropshipping?

Automated dropshipping is the process of using a third party to handle tasks like inventory management. The aim is to remove mundane or tedious tasks so that the business owner can focus on what’s most important: marketing and customer service. Rather than manually approving, sending, packing, and shipping orders, an automated dropshipping business relies on technology to streamline the workflow for the merchant.

Pros and cons of automated dropshipping

Automated dropshipping is a great way to run an ecommerce business. But it comes with a set of drawbacks that might limit its appeal to aspiring merchants. Here are the pros and cons of automated dropshipping:

Pros

1. Reduced cost

Automated dropshipping can be an effective way to reduce costs in your dropshipping business. One way it helps with cost reduction is by minimizing data inaccuracies and human errors. This results in fewer losses due to incorrect data or mistakes in fulfilling orders. Additionally, automated dropshipping lets you complete repetitive tasks like inventory management much faster and more efficiently. This helps you save money and time, which you can invest in other areas of your business.

2. Improved efficiency

When you automate dropshipping tasks, you significantly improve the efficiency of your business. Instead of waiting for manual approvals, reviews, and communications, you benefit from systematic workflows that save a lot of legwork. Set the rules once, then let technology handle the rest. This improves the quality of your operations so you can scale your business quickly.

3. Informed business decisions

Better business decisions come from accurate data. When data isn’t precise, it can lead to costly errors. Automation ensures data accuracy by eliminating manual entry mistakes and keeping information up to date. As an example, automating your order processing in dropshipping reduces errors in customer details and shipping addresses, ensuring orders go out correctly and on time.

4. Handles rapid changes 

Automation in dropshipping helps you manage sudden shifts in demand or supply without breaking a sweat. Imagine a product unexpectedly going viral and orders flooding in—automated tools quickly adjust inventory and process orders without any hiccups. This keeps your store running smoothly even during unexpected spikes, letting you capitalize on trends without scrambling.

Cons

1. Limited control

In dropshipping, you surrender much of your control over key areas of your business. Suppliers handle both the products and shipping, leaving you without direct involvement. Some suppliers restrict how much you can customize or brand customer orders. Additionally, mistakes made by these third parties are beyond your ability to fix directly.

2. Requires technical know-how

When it comes to automating your dropshipping business, it’s essential to understand how to use software and digital tools correctly. This involves finding the right platforms to implement and performing ongoing maintenance and updates. But if you’re bootstrapped or have minimal technical expertise, this can be a significant hurdle to overcome, especially in the initial stage.

3. Lower profit margins

Dropshipping is convenient but comes with lower profit margins. If you have a solid strategy, it can still be profitable. However, margins are usually tighter than managing your own product line and fulfillment. The convenience of outsourcing tedious tasks to technology and suppliers has its costs. That’s why dropshippers often need to sell in large volumes to see substantial profits.

4. Limited room for exceptions

Dropshipping means less control over your business since you rely heavily on your suppliers’ policies. This setup often leaves little flexibility for handling special cases or unique requests. With automation handling most processes, fewer tasks get personal attention, which can be tricky when exceptions come up.

How to automate a dropshipping store

1. Get automated dropshipping tools from the Shopify App Store

Shopify is an excellent choice for building, customizing, and launching an automated dropshipping ecommerce store. After you create your online store, you can install dropshipping software that makes sense for your business.

The Shopify App Store has many options for all-in-one dropshipping automation tools, including: 

→ Click Here to Launch Your Online Business with Shopify

1. AutoDS: AI Dropshipping & POD: If you want to find and import dropshipping products from sites like Alibaba, Amazon, and more, this app is a great choice. The app will automatically fulfill orders and update tracking numbers, making it easy to manage your business.
2. Spocket: With this app, you can easily dropship winning products from US and EU suppliers. Spocket also has automated features for AliExpress product import and order fullfillment, making it a great all-in-one option.
3. Duoplane: If you work with multiple dropshipping vendors, Duoplane can help you streamline your order processing. This dropship automation software fully automates your multi-supplier order flow, giving you more time to focus on growing your business.

2. Work with your dropshipping supplier to streamline order processing 

Order processing is perhaps the most valuable automation option available to dropshippers. When a customer orders from your website, you need to send the supplier the customer details. Instead of manually typing out all the details to your supplier, most apps will ask you to click a button and the order will be sent over to the supplier automatically. Platforms like Duoplane also work with multiple dropshipping suppliers and route orders to vendors based on their capacity.

When you automate order processing, you eliminate potential delays, which means your customers get their products faster. With 58% of consumers shopping online in search of the fastest shipping option, this kind of automation can be a game-changer for your dropshipping store.

3. Optimize pricing for your business

Many automated dropshipping software tools have features for automating, syncing, and automating pricing information. Some tools, for instance, have a “price multiplier” feature that lets you create your pricing rules and apply them automatically each time you add new items to your store.

When using automatic pricing, make sure to establish parameters that safeguard your profits. The last thing you want is to find yourself selling products at a price point where you end up making a loss. Likewise, you want to avoid pricing too high. To create a profitable dropshipping business, make sure to stay in a competitive price range.

4. Align inventory control across all vendors

When it comes to dropshipping, achieving inventory accuracy is crucial for avoiding costly challenges like overstocks and out-of-stocks. With Duoplane’s vendor inventory feeds, you can stay on top of your stock levels for each supplier. This enables you to route your orders to the right vendors based on their fulfillment capacity.

By having this real-time inventory data at your fingertips, you avoid unnecessary costs and make more-informed decisions, all while providing a better experience for your customers

5. Automate order tracking

In ecommerce, it’s critical to keep shoppers informed about the status of their packages. With automated order tracking, you can provide them with real-time updates. This can help create a positive perception of your brand, as more than 87% of consumers find the shopping experience better when real-time order tracking is offered.

AutoDS offers automatic tracking number updates, while Duoplane automatically populates shipment feeds with vendor tracking data. With these apps, you can improve the post-purchase customer experience and build long-term brand loyalty.

6. Streamline marketing

Marketing is another area you can streamline for your dropshipping business. For dropshipping stores, several tools can handle marketing tasks effectively:

• Meta pixel: Add this to track visitor actions. It helps you improve ads based on real user behavior, logging events like page views and purchases.
• Email automation: Use apps like Mailchimp and Automizely to send emails automatically. They make it easy to engage customers and promote products.
• Ad tracking: Tools like Ecomhunt monitor competitor ads. They help you refine your strategies by showing what works in the market.
• Social Media posting: Automate your posts on Facebook and Instagram with tools like Sprout Social or Later. This saves time and expands your reach.
• Review management: Apps like Judge.me collect and show product reviews. They add valuable social proof to your store.

7. Set up promotions

Dropshipping businesses can streamline their promotions through automation. For example, set up pop-ups on your website to give discounts to first-time visitors or send emails to those who abandoned their cart. These automated promotions can be customized to fit your needs and help drive more sales for your store.

8. Simplify multichannel selling

Selling on multiple platforms usually requires a lot of manual work, like updating listings and managing inventory. But now, you can use an automation tool like Koongo. Koongo syncs with your ecommerce platform and lets you list products on various marketplaces easily.

It also keeps your stock levels current and syncs orders across channels like Amazon, eBay, and Google Shopping. Koongo comes with ready-to-use templates for more than 500 channels and offers frequent data updates, ensuring your multichannel selling is efficient and accurate.

Conclusion

Automating your dropshipping business can help free up time to focus on marketing and customer service—making it more likely you’ll be able to scale your business’s growth.

Automated dropshipping is entirely possible, and it can extend into your marketing efforts as well. If you focus on doing the kind of work you’re great at and automate the rest, you’ll be able to run a successful business all by yourself.