When it comes to expansion, the degree to which you’re making use of Amazon FBA automation can make the difference between slow or no growth and rapid gain.
Let’s take a look at how – and what – you can automate in order to keep your Amazon business on the winning track.
The A – Z Of Automation
How does Amazon automation work?
As with any business, by removing repetitive, labor-intensive tasks you liberate resources which can then be used for growth. Automation is about freeing up time. In effect, doing more with less.
Though selling on Amazon brings with it unique ways to automate, which we’ll discuss in this article, the principles of automating apply broadly.\The benefits of automation hold strong across the board.
The benefits of automation hold strong across the board.
- Sellers free up their time.
- Agencies get more productivity out of their systems.
- Aggregators operate more efficiently and feed growth.
In all cases the result is the same:
Increased profitability.
Effective automation:
- Accelerates business productivity, spinning the sales flywheel ever faster.
- Elevates you above the fray.
Spinning that flywheel faster is, of course, a winning proposition.
As well, being above the fray allows you to make increasingly clear strategic decisions, which lead to better ways to refine automation which, in turn, leads to …
More expansion.
Automating is the inception of what we might call the upward spiral of success.
The best Amazon automation service focuses on three main areas:
- Processes
- People
- Technology
Everything begins with process.
Honing Your Processes
Processes, often referred to as SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), underlie all business operations. Whether you take time to lay them out or not, you’re operating by SOPs every day.
The way you do things? Those are your SOPs.
A great place to start. Take a look at what you’re doing, write your actions down, look them over, make adjustments to increase efficiency.
Are there actions you can cut?
Are there actions that can be automated? Offloaded to a more effective source?
Take inventory, for example. Inventory is the absolute backbone of your entire operation; having that one nailed is worth doing. What actions can you take toward Amazon seller automation to hone your inventory processes?
This is an area where the right tools come into play.
Tools like SoStocked, which offers an Inventory Command Center to oversee all inventory flows, help automate many of the processes you’re likely doing manually.
Much like “a penny saved is a penny earned”, a man-hour saved is a man-hour gained, which can be invested elsewhere.
Freeing Up Your People
Which is often what automation comes down to: shifting manual tasks to other solutions, or to solutions that require less man-hours.
Part of that means making it so your people enjoy the three “E”s in their workflow:
- Efficiency
- Effectiveness
- Expansion
(Does “enjoy” count as a fourth “E”?)
One way to do that is through organization of data. As you know, Amazon provides sellers with tons of data. Data has never been a problem.
What to do with it … that’s where the rubber meets the road.
The experts at D8aDriven, the masters of Data-Backed Insights & Action Plans, note wisely that most Amazon sellers are data rich and insight poor. Simply clarifying what action needs to be taken, based on the troves of data available, can go a long way toward freeing up those resources – which can then be invested elsewhere.
Efficiency is as much a part of automation as actual Amazon automation software.
Which brings us to our next topic.
Technology.
Putting Software To Work
From Amazon PPC automation software to Amazon email automation, to alerts and other tools designed to speed your operations, it’s no wonder software options are the biggest way to automate your Amazon enterprise.
Amazon itself is, after all, primarily a software ecosystem.
Let’s run through a handful that have the potential to bring significant impact to your overall automation, and therefore your expansion.
FBA Reimbursement Automation
Reclaim your time and money with the most transparent Amazon reimbursement service in the industry.
Seller Investigators offers a way to get back lost revenue.
FBA Rankings Automation
Two that can help:
- SellerTools, offering ways to future-proof your business with a full suite of data-backed Amazon automation and research tools built by real sellers.
- PixelMe, offering world-class off-Amazon advertising technology, built and backed by the best in the industry.
FBA PPC Automation
PPC Entourage, perhaps the best in the biz when it comes to maximizing ad revenue, slashing ACoS, and improving profit margins. Customizable bulk templates and multi-campaign deployment make this the perfect go-to for Amazon PPC automation.
In addition to these, the simple availability of vital management information can be a form of automation. Real-time inventory alerts, listing alerts, negative review alerts – being informed of such key info without having to go looking increases efficiency and frees up resources. Tools like AMZAlert can help.
And those are just a few.
When it comes to automating your Amazon business, software will be a big part of your overall strategy.
Automate For Expansion
Putting together these tools and planning steps creates an effective way to capitalize on existing resources in order to do more.
The key, always, is to realize maximum profitability at each tier of growth. Doing that means automating all processes that can be automated, while seeing to operational efficiency across your Amazon business.
In this way your expansion is all but guaranteed.
Take It Away
What you do next is up to you.
No duh, right?
We do occasionally like to state the obvious.
Our point is that, in order to get the bennies of an automated Amazon business, it really only takes a decision. Taking that first step. Begin implementing a few of the above ideas. Start stripping away the work you need to do, thereby freeing yourself to create more business.
(Noted; you may simply want to automate so you can create more time off. Certainly not an unworthy goal. However, knowing the entrepreneurial fire in our audience, we suspect you’ll use your new freedom to make your business bigger.)
If you’re a Seller, by automating you stand to gain more of that oh-so-valuable commodity (time). Potentially lots of time, depending on how deep you go with your automation strategy.
Run an agency? Holy cannoli do you need automation. How can you hope to expand your clients and grow your base if you’re the one overseeing each and every action?
And aggregators, don’t get us started. You’re building an empire. We hope you read the above nodding your head, going “Yeah, yeah, doing that, already have that in place, cool, yep, this is old news, great advice for everyone but me because I’m already all over it.”
If you’re not, there’s no time like the present.
Caron6 houses some of the best automation tools and services out there, all under one roof, all integrated to work together for you, all designed for one burning purpose:
To help you expand your Amazon business.