Automation in e-commerce
Your online store, traditional sales channels and the processes behind them should complement one another, not create friction. As a retail business grows, business process analysis and automation become essential.
Lumav automates e-commerce business processes through a single partner. We have 20+ years of experience with different business software systems, 16+ years with leading B2C and B2B online stores, and we are an early adopter of AI. We help you determine when a quick win makes sense and when a process needs to be broken down and redesigned. We understand that every business is different and that there is more than one path to success. Depending on urgency and budget, we offer both standard and tailored solutions.
Manual processes do not scale
Do any of these problems sound familiar?
A supplier sends a new price list
and someone has to update several thousand products manually.
A category manager spends hours
checking product margins, analysing the market and suppliers, and deciding how to change the product range.
A new product joins the range
with descriptions, images, translations and dimensions. The purchasing manager spends days re-entering information, ordering translations, setting prices, checking data and importing everything into the e-commerce system.
A business customer requests a quote for 50 items
The salesperson looks up the customer and products in the ERP, checks stock and then prepares an invoice. The customer may not wait: if a competitor responds faster, you could lose the sale or even the relationship, despite offering better terms.
A salesperson adds a new customer
to several software systems or even spreadsheets while checking for duplicates. Data is entered twice every day, yet there is still no single view of the customer’s order history. The same customer may receive calls from several salespeople at your company.
These are everyday scenarios in Estonian e-commerce companies. Every manual step takes time, increases the risk of errors and raises operating costs.
The problem is not the people — it is the missing data bridges. When the online store, ERP, PIM and CRM do not communicate, people have to hold the systems together.
Automated data flow changes everything
Imagine a different situation. A supplier updates a price — the system checks your prices and stock, then adjusts the selling price automatically. A new product is added to the PIM — descriptions, translations and images move to the online store without manual copying. A business customer opens the ordering portal and places an order independently — at 10 p.m., without help from a salesperson. The salesperson sees the customer’s complete history in one view, directly in the ERP.
This is how the data flows: supplier → PIM → online store → ERP → customer. Every link is automated. Data moves; people decide.
Lumav builds this data flow with five specific services. Each one removes a bottleneck.
Product information management (PIM) — one source of truth for your entire range
Problem: Product information is scattered across the ERP, spreadsheets, online store administration and supplier files. Every change has to be copied manually to several places, and different people often duplicate the same work.
Solution: A product information management system, or PIM (Akeneo, inRiver), brings all product information together in one place. From there, it flows automatically to the online store, ERP and other channels.
Based on your business requirements, we can help you make the strategic decision about which system should be the central source for each type of data. We believe enriching product information is one of the investments most likely to pay for itself, because product information is what enables customers to make purchasing decisions.
Learn more about the impact of an external product range →
B2B self-service — let business customers order around the clock
Problem: Business customers place orders by phone, email and text message. A salesperson re-enters the data. Customers cannot order when it suits them — and if the salesperson is off sick, the order may not be placed at all. Customers also need answers: they want to see previous orders, add sub-users, check product warranty periods, find compatible spare parts and more. To do so, they must contact a salesperson, who may then need to find an expert elsewhere in the organisation.
Solution: A B2B self-service portal where business customers can see their personal product range, prices and stock. They order at their convenience, while integrations with key systems display the information that matters to them.
Depending on your business, we can recommend an off-the-shelf product or a custom solution. We then create a development plan based on your priorities.
Price management — automated pricing that protects your margin
Problem: Suppliers change their prices. Someone has to update selling prices while remaining competitive and being ready to adjust the product range.
Solution: A mechanism for controlling selling prices, integrated with the data needed to make decisions either automatically or through a convenient, user-friendly view for the assortment manager.
We help bring together data from different sources to give you a competitive advantage. Learn more about competitor price monitoring →
B2B sales process automation
Problem: Salespeople use different software to manage sales. Customers are entered several times and data is scattered. Important information about customer interactions sits in separate applications, so compiling customer statistics or sales history requires several systems.
Solution: We make it possible to manage the process from one place and make better decisions based on customer data. We can also build automations that help salespeople choose the best next action.
What this means for your sales team:
Custom automation solutions — when your business process is unique
Problem: Your company has a business process that no off-the-shelf product covers, whether for historical, technical or other reasons. The vendors behind your existing systems cannot change their solutions, and you need a fresh perspective on automating the entire process. Employees report problems that do not appear to have a cost-effective solution.
Solution: Lumav’s team analyses your business processes, involving an external partner when necessary. We map employee workflows, existing software and current integrations, then propose a solution. Together, we decide whether automation is enough, whether new off-the-shelf products can help, and/or whether a new AI-based solution should be built.
Why choose us as your automation partner?
Lumav is more than a development partner: we have experience automating the full range of e-commerce processes.
E-commerce and Magento experience
Business software and ERP experience
AI and a complete business perspective
Tell us about your challenge. We will begin with a free consultation, map your biggest bottlenecks and show you where automation can deliver the fastest results.
Book a free automation consultation →Frequently asked questions
What is business process automation in e-commerce?
Business process automation means optimising the processes that keep a business running. At Lumav, we specialise in processes directly related to e-commerce, including product information management, price updates, order processing, sales process tracking, marketing automation and logistics. The goal is to connect them so data moves between systems automatically, eliminating manual data entry and duplicate systems.
How quickly does automation pay for itself?
It depends on the process. We help clients assess whether automation is worthwhile and how much to invest. A complete redesign is not always necessary — you can automate an entire process or a small part of it as a quick fix.
Which software systems can you integrate?
Automation may mean creating an integration, optimising one, or building a simple middleware layer. We have experience with the most popular business software systems, including Erply, Directo, iDS, MS Dynamics NAV and AX, Standard Books, Epicor, Scoro and others. We can integrate via APIs or files, or build other custom solutions. For AI solutions, we avoid dependence on a single model and implement them so the model can be replaced easily when needed.
What is the difference between ERP, CRM, PIM and CDP in e-commerce?
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) manages business operations — inventory, prices, invoices and orders. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) manages customer relationships — sales communication and customer support. PIM manages product information — images, attributes and descriptions. CDP manages high-level customer data — website behaviour, visits and purchases. Depending on the scale of a company’s e-commerce operations, other types of software may also be needed. We make these systems work together, build custom solutions where necessary, and add automation, AI solutions and reports so the solution works as a whole. See also our analysis and integration service.
Why do I need a PIM if my products are already in Magento?
Magento is an e-commerce platform, not a product information management system. In some cases, managing products in an ERP or directly in Magento does make sense. PIM becomes valuable when high-quality product information is a basic requirement (for example, in healthcare or food) or creates a significant competitive advantage (such as in fashion). It is also useful when you have many products, products change quickly, you operate in several markets or channels, and more than one person manages product information. PIM is a central database from which information flows automatically to every channel — the online store, B2B catalogue and print catalogue.
Related services
Business process automation is one part of Lumav’s e-commerce services. See also:
