Manual processes as time wasters: Why you should automate your Amazon ordering process with Microsoft Dynamics

Worldwide, Amazon Marketplace counts over 2.1 billion views every month. This popularity holds enormous sales potential and makes the corporate giant attractive to retailers of almost all sectors and sizes. However, the theoretical order volume stands in stark contrast to what retailers can manually process in incoming orders in Microsoft Dynamics 365. For this reason, ESYON has developed the Amazon Marketplace Connector, which can be used to automate numerous standard processes in everyday business. We explain in this article which possibilities our solution offers and why you should automate your order processing on Amazon.

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5-10 minutes to process an Amazon order

On average, it takes 5-10 minutes to manually process an Amazon order in Microsoft Dynamics 365. It becomes clear why this is the case if we take a look at the individual work steps. If you wanted to manually enter an Amazon order into Microsoft Dynamics, you would have to:

1. Check the ordering customer
2. Create a new customer if one does not exist
3. Create a new order
4. Enter the ordered items
5. Compare prices
6. Initiate the financial process (post payment flows to the correct accounts + reconcile Amazon’s settlement report).

From these efforts, it is easy to calculate how many resources you would need every day for a two- or even three-digit order volume. You would quickly realise: Manual processes place natural limits on your company’s growth. Moreover, they are very error-prone. You therefore need even more time to correct them.

Automating your Amazon order processing does not only save time

As soon as you connect your Amazon Business to Microsoft Dynamics 365 and automate standard processes, you save the amount of time listed above – with every order process. This gives you the opportunity to concentrate again on the essential things in everyday business. But automation has even more advantages.

The minimisation of error sources also gives you more security and reduces your support workload, which in turn ensures greater satisfaction among your customers.

For monitoring purposes, it also makes sense to transfer your transactions via Amazon to Microsoft Dynamics. This is where all your sales channels come together, giving you a clear overview of each of your points of sale and your financial data.

Amazon and Microsoft Dynamics 365: Bring both systems into harmony

Only when an ERP such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 is seamlessly integrated into all business processes can it play to its full strengths and make everyday business life easier for you and your company. We have developed the Amazon Marketplace Connector so that you can harmonise the ERP with your Amazon business and fully automate your order processing.

Functions of the Amazon Marketplace Connector

Automatic customer management: The Amazon Marketplace Connector eliminates the need to manually create and maintain customer data in your ERP. When an order is received, a new customer is automatically created if required. Alternatively, the order can be assigned to an existing customer.

Import and Update of Orders in Bulk: The Amazon Marketplace Connector’s key functionality is the bulk import of Amazon orders into Microsoft Dynamics 365. Our solution allows for querying orders by time and marketplace, making it possible to import multiple orders in one go. Although you can import a single order if needed. The order status changes frequently, so we recommend performing multiple daily imports. Our connector waits for the final status before saving the order information and only imports orders with a status of “Shipped” or “Cancelled.”

Creation of orders: In addition to the import, new orders can also be created as sales orders in Microsoft Dynamics, creation can be triggered by a button. However, a batch paradigm can also be created for automatic creation.

Posting orders by batch: With our solution, manual posting of orders is no longer necessary, as a batch command can also be set up for this work step. Orders with batch jobs can be checked at any time.

Allocation of discounts: Discounts and charges applied to the order on Amazon are also imported and directly integrated into the sales order, and then further documented in your financial data.

Processing delivery addresses for FBM orders: If you ship your orders yourself (FBM = Fulfillment by Merchant), you have to manage the delivery addresses of your customers yourself. Our solution can also transfer these to Microsoft Dynamics.

Creation and assignment of default customers per marketplace: Default customers make it easier to manage orders. The Amazon Marketplace Connector allows you to create default customersthat you can assign to individual Amazon Marketplaces. This feature is especially helpful for businesses that sell internationally.

Destination-based processing of taxes and fees: Depending on the destination country you are shipping to, different VAT rates and/or Amazon fees may apply. Our ERP integration can automatically detect and assign these based on your customer’s shipping address.

Frequently asked questions about automating Amazon order processing in Microsoft Dynamics

How long does it take to manually process Amazon orders in Microsoft Dynamics?

To manually enter a single Amazon order into Microsoft Dynamics 365, you need to allow 5-10 minutes. For this reason, manual effort inhibits the growth of your business above a certain order volume. You should automate your processes to save the corresponding time and make your Amazon business scalable.

Which areas of Amazon order processing can be automated with Microsoft Dynamics?

By integrating your Amazon Business with your Microsoft Dynamics, you can automate most standard processes. This includes importing, creating and posting orders, and processing discounts, Amazon charges and taxes. For automation, we recommend our Amazon solution.