Automation is taking over the technological landscape, including the retail industry.
This is big news for Amazon sellers who are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition.
But understanding artificial intelligence isn’t as easy as it looks.
Unfortunately, many Amazon retailers fail when implementing an automation strategy. Half of the automation projects fail because of the wrong process choice, as well as insufficient change management.
Fortunately for you, these Amazon sellers already made these common errors and you can learn from them. Here are 5 common automating mistakes for Amazon retailers, as well as additional advice.
Staying Ahead of the Curve: 5 Common Automating Mistakes for Amazon
With automation at the forefront, you can’t afford to make these mistakes. Learn about automation errors ahead of time and ensure your strategy is successful.
1. Automating Large Tasks
Many retailers think it makes sense to automate the larger tasks and work on smaller tasks independently.
This is not only a mistake, but it’s also the opposite — you’ll see more results when automating small tasks and focusing on the larger ones.
When you automate larger tasks, they become more difficult to monitor and integrate. You also risk making serious errors and disrupting your whole process.
What are some examples? The delivery process isn’t one you should automate.
Larger corporations have the resources to automate these processes.
But if you’re a one-person or small-staffed retailer, putting your trust in automation risks losing track of orders, entering incorrect customer information, and other disasters.
Instead, automate a smaller task, such as emailing promotional letters.
What if you’re bogged down with multiple large projects? If automating them is the only solution, reorganize these tasks so they’re smaller. Automate some parts of the task and work independently on the other parts.
2. Not Knowing What to Automate
This mistake is even worse than the previous one. If you have no experience with automation, it’s difficult to decide which tasks to automate and which ones to remain independent. But it’s also a mistake going in without a plan.
You need to have a clear understanding of automation and the benefits it can bring your store, but also an understanding of how automation affects your tasks.
How do you gain this understanding? There are a few different methods.
Research is your friend. You can also reach out to other Amazon sellers in your community to see what has been successful and what isn’t.
More automation services are opening up for Amazon sellers, such as invoicing automation. It’s worth looking into these services. Worst come to worst, you can try A/B testing to discover what tasks work better with automation.
3. Not Paying Attention to Your ROI
Automation is taking over but it certainly isn’t cheap. If your efforts were just as successful before automation, you might as well save the money.
It’s best to automate what you need and what you can afford. If you automate a task because it works for other Amazon sellers, you could risk losing money.
Some forms of automation may come with other hidden costs. These can include:
- Cost of implementation and installation
- Extra tools and services
- Hiring specialized staff
- Running cost
If automating a certain task isn’t as efficient as doing it yourself for no extra charges, then only stick with automating the tasks you need.
4. Not Training Your Staff
If you have a small staff, you’ll want to train them on automation.
Not all staff members are technologically savvy. To ensure your automated processes are successful, it’s vital your staff understands how to work and monitor these automated tasks.
The best way to do this is by offering training. Before enacting your automation strategy, create a training doc and have multiple meetings and workshops with your staff.
It’s also helpful to host a testing section to ensure your staff fully understands the automated processes.
And always open yourself up if a staff member is confused and/or is struggling.
In addition, you need to have keen management skills and survey their progress.
If a project fails, it’s on you just as much as it is on your staff.
With this being said…
5. Lack of Supervision
Lack of supervision extends further than not managing your staff and their automated roles. Lack of supervision also entails not managing your projects and the automation process as a whole.
Even though artificial intelligence is growing in effectiveness, it doesn’t replace human intelligence. However, it’s easy to rely on AI and trust our computers.
Failure to manage your automated processes results in losing control of your whole project, resulting in declining sales.
Keeping an eye on your project and your automated services put you at an advantage. You can ensure all processes are successful and you’ll be the first one to notice if something goes wrong.
Other Automation Mistakes to Know
These are only the automation mistakes that Amazon sellers frequently make.
But automation extends to various industries, and every business can expect to make at least one of these errors:
- Not understanding the benefits of automation
- Not setting automation goals
- Using automation to improve a bad process
- Automating larger tasks as opposed to automating time-consuming tasks
While automation will likely benefit you in different ways than other Amazon sellers, everyone will undergo a similar journey when switching to automated tasks.
Before you implement your automation strategy, understand these mistakes and prevent making them.
Amazon Automation Can Be Easy
It’s easy to not understand automation, especially for Amazon sellers. But this is why there are so many automating mistakes for Amazon. Always know that automation should work with you and your budget.
But many sellers will benefit the most when they automate smaller tasks, train their staff, and manage their processes.
An example of a task to automate is your advertising and your sponsored product PPC. Fortunately, we can help with this. Get started with our system. A 30-day trial only costs $1.
Also published on Medium.
