What You Should Automate in Shopify: Orders and Fulfillment

As your order volume grows, so does the pressure on your fulfillment process. You’re tagging high-priority orders, coordinating with your team, managing multiple locations, and trying to keep it all organized without slowing down.

That’s why order automation is often the first place smart Shopify stores start.

In Part 1 of our What You Should Automate in Shopify series, we’re looking at real workflows (including 25+ examples) that help you manage and fulfill orders faster, with fewer errors — and without needing to babysit your inbox or dashboard.

Automations to help you organize orders

The moment a new order hits your store, you want to know what it is, where it’s going, and what it needs. With the right Shopify workflow app, these workflows help you tag, route, and structure orders so nothing slips through the cracks.

Tag high-value or special orders

Not all orders are equal. Automating tags helps you quickly identify orders that need special handling and keeps your team focused.

Examples:

  • Tag orders over $300 as “High Value”
  • Add “Wholesale” or “VIP” tags based on customer status
  • Tag subscription orders for separate workflows
  • Flag rush orders or gift-wrapped items

Tags are simple, but when used consistently, they unlock smarter workflows across fulfillment, customer service, and reporting.

Route orders based on content

Order routing logic can be automated based on what’s inside the cart, how it’s being shipped, or where it’s headed.

Examples:

  • If an order contains Product A, route it to Warehouse A
  • If shipping method is “Local Pickup,” tag and alert your store team
  • If order is international, assign to your third-party fulfillment partner

You can also use product tags, collections, or vendor fields to automate routing logic without touching each product individually.

Add notes or metafields for fulfillment teams

Automation can add extra detail to each order — giving your warehouse or fulfillment partner exactly what they need without extra input from your staff.

Examples:

  • Add “Fragile item” to order notes for certain SKUs
  • Use metafields to flag custom packaging needs
  • Include “Do not combine with other orders” for preorders or bundles

The right message at the right time can prevent mistakes and improve the handoff between systems.

Automations to keep your team in sync

Good fulfillment depends on communication, and automation helps make that happen faster, without creating noise.

Send internal Slack or email notifications

When something important happens, your team should know. Automation makes sure alerts go out instantly — without someone needing to check the dashboard.

Examples:

  • Notify warehouse when a same-day order is received
  • Alert customer service when a high-risk order comes in
  • Email your store manager when a flagged product is ordered

You can tailor messages to the channel, the team, or the urgency, keeping the right people in the loop.

Create internal tickets or tasks

If your team uses task systems like Trello, Airtable, or Notion, automation can create and assign tasks automatically.

Examples:

  • Add a Trello card when an order includes a preorder item
  • Create an Airtable row when a custom-built product is sold
  • Push tagged orders to a shared order review board

This makes handoffs between teams faster and prevents things from getting lost in the shuffle.

Escalate issues automatically

When something goes wrong, you want to act fast. Automation can detect problems and trigger the right internal response.

Examples:

  • Flag high-risk orders for manual review
  • Alert your finance team if payment fails or is delayed
  • Tag and pause orders if fraud indicators are triggered

The sooner you know, the faster you can resolve it and protect both your customers and your bottom line.

Automations to track fulfillment progress

Once an order is placed, your store still needs to follow through. These workflows help you monitor what’s happening after the sale and spot gaps before they become problems.

Flag unfulfilled orders after a delay

Use automation to surface any order that hasn’t moved after a set number of hours or days.

Examples:

  • Tag orders unfulfilled after 48 hours
  • Notify fulfillment if a priority order is still pending
  • Add delayed orders to a manual review queue

These workflows help you catch delays and take action before customers start asking questions.

Tag fulfilled orders for follow-up

Once an order is fulfilled, you can tag it for further automation — especially for reporting or customer experience workflows.

Examples:

  • Tag high-value orders for post-delivery check-ins
  • Segment fulfilled orders by product type for campaign analysis
  • Mark VIP orders for review requests or loyalty offers

Tagging at fulfillment keeps your data organized and gives your marketing team cleaner lists to work from.

Send fulfillment data to external systems

Automation can push fulfillment data to the tools your team already uses.

Examples:

  • Send fulfilled order data to Google Sheets for analysis
  • Create daily reports of fulfilled items by product type
  • Post fulfillment summaries to Slack for your operations team

The right reporting keeps everyone informed and saves time spent chasing data manually.

Conclusion: Shopify order automation reduces friction where it matters most

Order volume is a good problem to have, but only if your systems can keep up. The more steps you can automate across fulfillment, routing, and team communication, the more time you’ll free up to focus on growth.

You don’t need to build a giant system from the start. Begin with one workflow — tag a specific order type, send one notification, route one product — and go from there.

If you’re looking for a Shopify workflow app that can handle everything from tagging to routing to internal alerts, Arigato Automation gives you the flexibility to build powerful, real-time workflows, without having to write code!