Nobody starts a dropshipping business because they just love delving into mundane and time-consuming tasks. The goal is to start and scale to financial success quickly, with little overhead and headaches. Yet, the reality is that running a dropshipping business isn’t just about making a few phone calls while sipping a piña colada on the beach. There’s a complex web of tasks to manage.
But what if you could have a business that practically runs itself? 72% of companies have adopted AI to automate processes in at least one business function. This trend spans all industries, but in e-commerce, the impacts of these technologies are particularly impressive.
Automated dropshipping lets you take your foot off the pedal and focus on the bigger picture, while day-to-day tasks are handled by software solutions that can manage far more than humans and with no headaches reported.
What is automated dropshipping, and how does it work?
Automated dropshipping is when most of the tasks required to run a dropshipping business are automated and handled by a third-party tool. Consider the entire customer journey and the operational tasks involved in every step: listing products, accepting orders, purchasing inventory, and ensuring product fulfillment.
Most of these tasks can be fully automated. For example, automation tools can instantly buy inventory once a new order has come through and fulfill this delivery. Of course, human involvement may be needed on occasion, particularly when dealing with customer complaints.
However, generally, your entire workflow can be automated. Marketplaces like eBay provide a range of automated features via its eBay Seller Hub, but it has some limitations that third-party tools can address. For example, some dropshipping platforms can even help you monitor pricing and market fluctuations, automatically adjusting pricing to match the margins you set initially.
3 reasons why you should embrace automated dropshipping
There is no reason not to embrace automated dropshipping unless you enjoy spending all your time in the nitty-gritty of administrative tasks. But there are a few compelling arguments as to why you should consider automating dropshipping tasks, including:
1. Scalability
If you’re looking to scale your business, whether expanding to other marketplaces, targeting new markets, or growing your product range, you’ll need help. One option is to hire a team, but humans can only do so much, and you need to pay them a living wage. On the other hand, automated tools can quickly complete thousands of tasks in minutes and don’t even need a lunch break. Long-term, they are an extremely reliable solution.
2. Efficiency
Automated tools can help you purchase inventory and fulfill orders promptly. This increased efficiency brings two key advantages: firstly, you can significantly improve customer experience, leading to higher customer satisfaction, more five-star reviews, and stellar listing pages. Secondly, it gives you back the precious gift of time: while orders are handled swiftly, you can focus on other business priorities.
3. Accuracy
Data is almost a currency. If you want your business to run smoothly and maintain an airtight sales pipeline, you need to know your numbers, from conversion rates to number of orders and gross profit.
Plus, these numbers need to be accurate to be relevant. Automated tools free your business brain from complex math calculations, presenting all the numbers you need to measure performance while reducing human error.
4 example tools you need for automated dropshipping—plus best practices for usage
Each seller toolkit will differ based on your priorities and goals. You can also choose an all-in-one automated dropshipping platform that offers all the necessary capabilities under a single interface. However, it’s worth knowing what tools are out there and the use cases they serve so you can make an informed decision.
1. Product research tools
Automation tools don’t just automate day-to-day operations; they can also help you do effective product research. If you’re an eBay dropshipper, you may be familiar with eBay Terapeak. This analytics tool gives you clear trends on product demand, from top trending categories to how much products are selling for.
Outside of eBay, tools like Google Trends and Jungle Scout can help you identify search trends and understand how demand for specific products is evolving. You can see whether a particular market is growing, stagnating, or declining and spot opportunities for profitable niches. You can also dive deeper into competitor activity and understand your top competitors’ strategies to stand out.
Use filters and data segmentation features to narrow down your options. Platforms like Jungle Scout allow you to segment products by price range, demand level, sales velocity, and seasonality, leveraging the power of cloud computing to process large amounts of data efficiently.
2. Inventory management software
Inventory management is arguably the most complex responsibility of operating an online dropshipping business. It gets even more complicated if you manage inventory across multiple platforms and suppliers. Yet, it’s crucial to get this right to avoid stockouts or canceled orders.
Automated tools can alert you when stock levels are low, send you instant updates on product inventory, and help you track each order. Typically, you can set up your safety stock numbers, so the tool will notify you when inventory runs low.
One way to define your safety stock threshold is to calculate it based on your average daily sales and supplier lead times. For example, if you sell 500 units daily and your supplier takes five days to restock, your safety stock would be 2500. Of course, you would need to consider seasonal spikes and potentially have a buffer for your supplier lead times to avoid depending on their timings.
3. Repricing tools
If your prices are set-it-and-forget-it numbers, but the pricing of your suppliers and the broader market aren’t, you risk shrinking profit margins or even losses. Business is a numbers game, so you need to either keep a close eye on your margins or get a tool to do it for you.
E-commerce price monitoring tools like repricer.com and Prisync can automatically adjust product prices based on competitor activity and market fluctuations. To protect your margins, set price floors (the minimum price you’re willing to sell a product for) and ceilings (the maximum price you want to charge). You can also analyze historical data to spot trends and refine your strategy. If selling on eBay, use a specialized tool like Yaballe to navigate your unique pricing dynamics.
4. Dropshipping platforms
Some automated features are helpful, but ideally, you should automate core business processes, not just a few steps. This covers listing items, purchasing from suppliers, monitoring delivery, and more. An automated dropshipping platform can do all of this, helping you list thousands of items in minutes, purchase from your supplier automatically once orders are placed, and keep your inventory up-to-date.
Yaballe gives you powerful automation capabilities and eliminates the need for multiple automation tools. Yaballe is particularly game-changing for Amazon-to-eBay dropshipping, as it continuously scans millions of Amazon items every hour, monitoring product availability to keep inventory and listings updated. Yaballe also tracks pricing changes and can handle thousands of orders, with auto-tracking and auto-messaging for the best customer experience.
The freedom dropshipping platforms give you as a business owner is priceless. But aside from time savings, having a dropshipping platform like Yaballe also means you can scale without limits and adapt quickly to frequent changes in competitors, suppliers, and customer demand.
A Faster, Better, Stronger Dropshipping Business With Yaballe
As a dropshipper, you know the value of working smarter to achieve those huge profits. Automating time-consuming tasks allows you to focus on steering the ship and addressing bigger-picture goals and challenges.
But this mission can rapidly backfire if you start signing up for every automation tool available. The trick is to keep it simple by choosing tools that deliver all the critical automation capabilities within a single unified interface.
Tools like Yaballe can automate the most demanding aspects of your business operations, from bulk product listing to inventory synchronization and auto-repricing, helping you stay competitive without the headaches.
Plus, Yaballe also offers valuable features that can help you maintain compliance and improve user experience and customer service, from built-in VeRo protection to a unique non-API connection that minimizes the risk of detection on eBay.
Contact us today to learn more about how Yaballe can transform your dropshipping operations.
