Processing orders manually in your Shopify admin works when you’re small, but it doesn’t scale. Whether it’s tagging orders, notifying vendors, or following up after fulfillment, the more you grow, the more time these tasks take.
That’s where order automation comes in.
Shopify gives you tools to start building workflows that respond to what’s happening in your store. And with even more powerful automation tools, you can go even further by creating order logic that mirrors how your business actually operates. In this article, we’ll walk through what kinds of order tasks can be automated, how to get started, and what tools give you the most flexibility.
What order tasks can you automate?
Order automation covers more than you might think. With the right workflows, you can tag, track, notify, and escalate without touching the order manually.
Tagging and routing
You can automatically tag orders based on line items, shipping method, location, or even order value. These tags can then be used to sort orders for different teams, apply shipping rules, or trigger marketing follow-ups. If an order includes fragile or bulk items, you can tag it for special handling. If it ships to a specific zone, you can route it to a certain warehouse.
Fulfillment alerts and coordination
Some products need special treatment. With automation, you can notify your warehouse, third-party vendor, or internal team the moment an order comes in. For example, if an order includes a custom product, you can trigger a Slack message to the production team. Or if a specific vendor is responsible for fulfillment, you can send them an email with the order details with no delay or manual forwarding.
Monitoring and exceptions
Automation also helps you spot problems before they become support tickets. You can track unfulfilled orders and send reminders after a set number of days. Or monitor for edge cases like high-risk payments, duplicate purchases, or expensive items that haven’t shipped yet. These workflows keep your operations team ahead of issues, not reacting to them after the fact.
Post-purchase communication
Workflows can also improve the customer experience. You might send a follow-up email after an order ships, alert your loyalty manager when a big order is placed, or notify vendors when certain SKUs are sold. These messages are more than just courtesy. They keep everyone aligned and build trust with your customers.
Built-in Shopify automation options
Shopify Flow gives merchants a way to automate simple order tasks directly in the Shopify admin. You can build workflows using drag-and-drop blocks that respond to order events, such as tagging new orders, auto-archiving completed ones, or alerting staff when specific conditions are met.
For stores with straightforward workflows, Flow is a good place to start. But for merchants who need more triggers, smarter logic, or integrations outside the Shopify ecosystem, additional tools may be needed.
Advanced order workflows with Arigato
If your store has operational complexity, Arigato gives you the control to build custom logic for how your orders are handled.
You can trigger workflows from more than just new orders, including fulfillment events, line item quantity, or changes to tags and metafields. You can delay or schedule actions to happen after a certain window, send dynamic emails to vendors or team members, and push data into platforms like Google Sheets, Airtable, or Trello.
Arigato lets you filter, loop, and personalize actions based on exactly what’s inside the order. This means you can:
- Automatically tag large orders and send an alert to fulfillment
- Notify your team when a product with special shipping requirements is ordered
- Track unfulfilled orders and email support after a delay
To move even faster, you can start with a prebuilt example from the Shopify workflow template library. There are hundreds of templates for order tracking, fulfillment automation, tagging logic, and more.
Automating orders on Shopify TL;DR
Order automation isn’t just about saving time. It helps your team stay consistent as you grow. With smart workflows in place, your team doesn’t have to react to every order. The right tags are added. The right people are notified. The right actions happen on time.
Start simple. Automate the one task you repeat every day. Then layer in workflows that help your store run smoother, with fewer mistakes and faster turnaround.
And when you’re ready to go beyond the basics, Arigato Automation gives you the power to build Shopify workflows that reflect your real business.