How do you process webshop orders automatically?

What does processing orders automatically mean?

Processing orders automatically means that a new order from your webshop goes through the next steps by itself, without anyone picking it up by hand. Think of checking it, choosing how it is shipped, scheduling it and keeping the customer informed.

At many webshops this is currently done by hand. Every morning someone opens the new orders, looks at what is in them and where they need to go, and then gets them ready for the parcel service or puts them on the schedule of their own driver. That work comes back every day and is always done the same way. That is exactly the kind of work you can automate. You can read more about that principle in workflow automation.

Which steps can you automate?

Almost every step that follows fixed rules. The most common ones:

• Fetching the order. As soon as someone places an order, your software gets a signal from the webshop.
• Choosing how it is shipped. By parcel service, by own transport or collection, based on your rules.
• Scheduling. With own transport, the order goes into the driver's route.
• Creating labels and packing slips. For the parcel service or for your own van.
• Informing the customer. A message with the expected delivery.
• To the accounts. Order, payment and any return end up in your accounting.

You do not have to do everything at once. Most businesses start with the step that takes the most manual work.

Parcel service or own transport: can software choose?

Yes, if you can write down the rules. Software then chooses the right route for each order, based on things that are in the order. For example:

• The size or weight. Large or heavy products do not fit in a parcel.
• The delivery address. Is it within your own delivery area or not?
• The chosen delivery option. What the customer chose at checkout.
• The combination of products. An order with one large product may go entirely by own transport.

Where the rules are clear, ordinary software does this without AI. AI only comes into the picture with orders that do not fit into a fixed box, for example when a customer asks for something special in a comment. Then AI can read that comment and refer the order to a person.

How does an order get into the driver's route?

Through an integration between your webshop and your planning. Many webshop platforms, such as Shopify, can send a signal when there is a new order. Such a signal is called a webhook. Your software picks it up, applies the rules and puts the order in the right route. Fetching data or writing it back is done through an API.

The driver then sees the new stop in their app, on the map and in the list of addresses. The office no longer has to retype the order into the planning.

Example from practice: De Rijplaten Specialist and De Slowfeeder Specialist

For De Rijplaten Specialist and De Slowfeeder Specialist, two webshops from Ede, I made such an automatic transport planning system. An order comes in through Shopify, is automatically filtered for DHL or own transport, and with own transport goes straight into the driver's route. For the same businesses I also made an automatic quote generator: an enquiry by email goes straight into the system, which suggests a price, and after a click on approve the quote goes to the customer.

Bert van Roekel wrote a review about it on Google. See the case with the videos and the review.

Which mistakes do you prevent with automatic processing?

Mainly the mistakes that come from retyping and forgetting. Think of:

• An order that goes with the parcel service while it is too big, and comes back.
• An order that nobody picked up, because it was among other emails.
• A typo in an address or phone number in the planning.
• A driver who does not know that a stop has been added.

Software applies the rules the same way every time. That makes the work predictable. You can read more about connecting systems on integrations and automation.

What does your customer notice?

Your customer mainly notices that things run smoothly. After ordering they get a message with the expected delivery, the order arrives in the agreed way, and questions about the status are easy to answer because everything is in one place. Behind the scenes the same things happen as before, only without anyone doing them by hand.

Where does AI help, and where does it not?

AI helps with everything that involves reading and understanding. Fixed rules are better left to ordinary software. This is how you divide it:

• Ordinary software: fetching orders, applying rules, scheduling, creating labels, sending to the accounts.
• AI: reading customer comments, answering emails with questions about an order, recognising and reading quote requests.
• A person: exceptions, complaints and everything where a price or agreement changes.

This division makes it reliable. Rules do the same thing every time. AI can make mistakes, so a person keeps an eye on it there.

What do you need to get started?

Less than you think. Usually it comes down to:

1. A webshop with an API or webhooks. Most large platforms have that.
2. Your shipping rules, on paper. When does something go with the parcel service, when with own transport?
3. How you plan routes now, and which system or app your driver uses.
4. A few weeks of example orders, including the difficult ones.

Do you work with separate systems that do not talk to each other? Then an integration platform or a custom integration can connect them. What suits you depends on your systems.

What does it cost to automate orders?

That depends on the number of systems involved, such as your webshop, your carrier and your accounting, and on the number of exceptions in your shipping rules. With me it starts with a business analysis. In it I look at your webshop, your shipping rules and your planning. Then you get a proposal with a fixed price, so you know in advance where you stand. You can read more for webshops on AI for webshops. Also read how your price is put together.

Frequently asked questions

Source: Shopify: About webhooks (notifications for a new order). Consulted on 19 October 2026.