E-commerce Automation Workflows

E-commerce automation enables businesses to efficiently manage product catalogs, monitor competitive pricing, and track inventory across multiple platforms. This guide provides production-ready workflows for common e-commerce automation scenarios.

Product Data Extraction Workflow

Business Context

Automatically extract and synchronize product information from supplier websites, competitor sites, or marketplace platforms to maintain up-to-date product catalogs.

Technical Architecture

Workflow Overview

flowchart LR
    A[Product URLs Input] --> B[NavigateToLink]
    B --> C[Extract Product Data]
    C --> D[Process & Enrich]
    D --> E[Validate Quality]
    E --> F[Store in Database]
    F --> G[Send Notifications]

    subgraph "Data Extraction"
        C --> C1[GetAllHTML]
        C --> C2[ProcessHTML]
        C --> C3[Extract Images]
    end

    subgraph "Processing"
        D --> D1[Clean Data]
        D --> D2[Enrich with AI]
        D --> D3[Categorize]
    end

    subgraph "Quality Control"
        E --> E1[Validate Fields]
        E --> E2[Check Completeness]
        E --> E3[Verify Images]
    end

    E --> H{Quality Check}
    H -->|Fail| I[Flag for Review]
    H -->|Pass| F

    style A fill:#e3f2fd
    style F fill:#e8f5e8
    style G fill:#fff3e0

Implementation

Product URL Management

// Input: List of product URLs to process
{
  "productUrls": [
    "https://supplier.com/product/12345",
    "https://competitor.com/item/67890",
    "https://marketplace.com/listing/abc123"
  ],
  "batchSize": 10,
  "processingMode": "parallel"
}

Navigation and Data Extraction

// NavigateToLink configuration
{
  "url": "{{productUrl}}",
  "waitForLoad": true,
  "timeout": 15000,
  "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; ProductBot/1.0)",
  "headers": {
    "Accept": "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8"
  }
}

// GetAllHTML for structured extraction
{
  "selector": ".product-details, .item-info, .listing-content",
  "preserveStructure": true,
  "includeMetadata": true
}

Product Information Processing

// ProcessHTML for product data
{
  "extractionRules": [
    {
      "field": "title",
      "selectors": ["h1.product-title", ".item-name", ".listing-title"],
      "required": true
    },
    {
      "field": "price",
      "selectors": [".price", ".cost", ".amount"],
      "transform": "extractCurrency",
      "validation": "isNumeric"
    },
    {
      "field": "description",
      "selectors": [".description", ".details", ".product-info"],
      "transform": "cleanText"
    },
    {
      "field": "images",
      "selectors": [".product-images img", ".gallery img"],
      "attribute": "src",
      "transform": "absoluteUrl"
    },
    {
      "field": "specifications",
      "selectors": [".specs table", ".attributes"],
      "transform": "parseTable"
    },
    {
      "field": "availability",
      "selectors": [".stock-status", ".availability"],
      "transform": "parseAvailability"
    }
  ]
}

Data Validation and Enrichment

// Validation rules
{
  "validationRules": [
    {
      "field": "title",
      "required": true,
      "minLength": 5,
      "maxLength": 200
    },
    {
      "field": "price",
      "required": true,
      "type": "number",
      "min": 0
    },
    {
      "field": "images",
      "required": true,
      "minCount": 1,
      "validateUrls": true
    }
  ],
  "enrichment": [
    {
      "field": "category",
      "source": "categoryClassifier",
      "input": "title,description"
    },
    {
      "field": "brand",
      "source": "brandExtractor",
      "input": "title,specifications"
    }
  ]
}

Data Storage and Synchronization

// Database storage
{
  "operation": "upsert",
  "table": "products",
  "keyFields": ["sourceUrl"],
  "data": {
    "title": "{{extracted.title}}",
    "price": "{{extracted.price}}",
    "description": "{{extracted.description}}",
    "images": "{{extracted.images}}",
    "specifications": "{{extracted.specifications}}",
    "availability": "{{extracted.availability}}",
    "category": "{{enriched.category}}",
    "brand": "{{enriched.brand}}",
    "sourceUrl": "{{productUrl}}",
    "lastUpdated": "{{now()}}",
    "extractionMetadata": {
      "extractedAt": "{{timestamp}}",
      "workflowVersion": "1.2.0",
      "dataQuality": "{{qualityScore}}"
    }
  }
}

Expected Output

{
  "products": [
    {
      "id": "prod_12345",
      "title": "Premium Wireless Headphones - Noise Cancelling",
      "price": 299.99,
      "currency": "USD",
      "description": "High-quality wireless headphones with active noise cancellation...",
      "images": [
        "https://example.com/images/headphones-main.jpg",
        "https://example.com/images/headphones-side.jpg"
      ],
      "specifications": {
        "Battery Life": "30 hours",
        "Connectivity": "Bluetooth 5.0",
        "Weight": "250g"
      },
      "availability": "In Stock",
      "category": "Electronics > Audio > Headphones",
      "brand": "AudioTech",
      "sourceUrl": "https://supplier.com/product/12345",
      "lastUpdated": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

Price Monitoring Workflow

Business Context

Monitor competitor pricing across multiple platforms to maintain competitive positioning and identify pricing opportunities.

Implementation

Workflow Structure

graph TD
    A[Price Sources Configuration] --> B[Extract Current Prices]
    B --> C[Compare with Historical Data]
    C --> D[Analyze Price Trends]
    D --> E{Threshold Exceeded?}
    E -->|Yes| F[Generate Alerts]
    E -->|No| G[Store Data]
    F --> H[Send Notifications]
    G --> I[Update Reports]
    H --> I

    subgraph "Price Sources"
        J[Competitor A]
        K[Competitor B]
        L[Marketplace]
    end

    A --> J
    A --> K
    A --> L

    subgraph "Alert Types"
        M[Price Drop Alert]
        N[Competitive Position Alert]
        O[Market Average Alert]
    end

    F --> M
    F --> N
    F --> O

    style E fill:#fff3e0
    style F fill:#ffebee
    style I fill:#e8f5e8

Step-by-Step Implementation

Price Source Configuration

// Define monitoring targets
{
  "priceMonitoringConfig": {
    "products": [
      {
        "productId": "PROD_001",
        "name": "Wireless Headphones",
        "sources": [
          {
            "name": "Competitor A",
            "url": "https://competitor-a.com/product/headphones-xyz",
            "priceSelector": ".price-current"
          },
          {
            "name": "Competitor B",
            "url": "https://competitor-b.com/item/audio-headphones",
            "priceSelector": ".sale-price, .regular-price"
          },
          {
            "name": "Marketplace",
            "url": "https://marketplace.com/dp/B08XYZ123",
            "priceSelector": ".a-price-whole"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "monitoringFrequency": "hourly",
    "alertThresholds": {
      "priceDropPercent": 5,
      "significantChange": 10
    }
  }
}

Price Extraction and Processing

// Extract current prices
{
  "priceExtraction": {
    "extractionMethod": "smart",
    "fallbackSelectors": [".price", ".cost", ".amount"],
    "currencyDetection": true,
    "priceValidation": {
      "minPrice": 1,
      "maxPrice": 10000,
      "currencyFormat": "USD"
    },
    "transformations": [
      {
        "operation": "cleanPrice",
        "removeChars": ["$", ",", " "]
      },
      {
        "operation": "parseFloat",
        "precision": 2
      }
    ]
  }
}

Price Comparison and Analysis

// Compare with historical data
{
  "priceAnalysis": {
    "compareWith": "historical",
    "timeframes": ["1h", "24h", "7d", "30d"],
    "calculations": [
      {
        "metric": "priceChange",
        "formula": "(current - previous) / previous * 100"
      },
      {
        "metric": "competitivePosition",
        "formula": "rank(currentPrice, competitorPrices)"
      },
      {
        "metric": "marketAverage",
        "formula": "average(allCurrentPrices)"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Alert Generation

// Generate alerts based on thresholds
{
  "alertRules": [
    {
      "condition": "priceChange < -5",
      "severity": "high",
      "message": "Significant price drop detected: {{productName}} - {{priceChange}}%",
      "actions": ["email", "slack", "webhook"]
    },
    {
      "condition": "competitivePosition > 3",
      "severity": "medium",
      "message": "Price competitiveness alert: {{productName}} ranked {{position}} of {{totalCompetitors}}",
      "actions": ["email"]
    }
  ]
}

Inventory Tracking Workflow

Business Context

Monitor inventory levels across multiple sales channels and suppliers to prevent stockouts and optimize inventory management.

Implementation

Workflow Structure

[Inventory Sources] → [Extract Stock Data] → [Normalize] → [Aggregate] → [Analyze] → [Alert]

Step-by-Step Implementation

Multi-Channel Inventory Extraction

// Extract inventory from various sources
{
  "inventorySources": [
    {
      "channel": "website",
      "url": "https://mystore.com/admin/inventory",
      "stockSelector": ".stock-quantity",
      "productSelector": ".product-row"
    },
    {
      "channel": "marketplace_a",
      "url": "https://marketplace-a.com/seller/inventory",
      "stockSelector": ".available-quantity",
      "productSelector": ".inventory-item"
    },
    {
      "channel": "warehouse",
      "type": "api",
      "endpoint": "https://warehouse-api.com/v1/inventory",
      "authentication": "bearer_token"
    }
  ]
}

Inventory Data Processing

// Normalize inventory data
{
  "inventoryProcessing": {
    "normalization": [
      {
        "field": "sku",
        "operation": "standardize",
        "format": "uppercase"
      },
      {
        "field": "quantity",
        "operation": "parseInteger",
        "defaultValue": 0
      },
      {
        "field": "location",
        "operation": "mapLocation",
        "mapping": {
          "WH1": "Main Warehouse",
          "ST1": "Store Location 1"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Inventory Analysis and Alerts

// Analyze inventory levels
{
  "inventoryAnalysis": {
    "aggregation": {
      "groupBy": ["sku", "location"],
      "calculations": [
        "totalQuantity",
        "availableQuantity",
        "reservedQuantity"
      ]
    },
    "alertRules": [
      {
        "condition": "totalQuantity <= reorderPoint",
        "severity": "high",
        "message": "Low stock alert: {{sku}} - {{totalQuantity}} units remaining"
      },
      {
        "condition": "totalQuantity == 0",
        "severity": "critical",
        "message": "Stock out: {{sku}} - No inventory available"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Review Analysis Workflow

Business Context

Automatically collect and analyze customer reviews to monitor product sentiment, identify issues, and track competitive positioning.

Implementation

Workflow Structure

[Review Sources] → [Extract Reviews] → [Sentiment Analysis] → [Categorize] → [Report]

Step-by-Step Implementation

Review Collection

// Multi-platform review extraction
{
  "reviewSources": [
    {
      "platform": "amazon",
      "productUrl": "https://amazon.com/dp/{{asin}}",
      "reviewSelector": "[data-hook='review']",
      "ratingSelector": ".a-icon-alt",
      "textSelector": "[data-hook='review-body']"
    },
    {
      "platform": "google_reviews",
      "businessUrl": "https://google.com/maps/place/{{businessId}}",
      "reviewSelector": ".jftiEf",
      "ratingSelector": ".kvMYJc",
      "textSelector": ".wiI7pd"
    }
  ]
}

Sentiment Analysis and Categorization

// AI-powered review analysis
{
  "reviewAnalysis": {
    "sentimentAnalysis": {
      "model": "sentiment-classifier",
      "confidence": 0.8,
      "categories": ["positive", "negative", "neutral"]
    },
    "topicExtraction": {
      "model": "topic-classifier",
      "topics": [
        "product_quality",
        "shipping",
        "customer_service",
        "value_for_money",
        "usability"
      ]
    },
    "keywordExtraction": {
      "method": "tfidf",
      "maxKeywords": 10,
      "minFrequency": 2
    }
  }
}

Review Reporting and Insights

// Generate actionable insights
{
  "reportGeneration": {
    "metrics": [
      {
        "name": "averageRating",
        "calculation": "average(ratings)"
      },
      {
        "name": "sentimentDistribution",
        "calculation": "groupBy(sentiment).count()"
      },
      {
        "name": "topIssues",
        "calculation": "topKeywords(negativeReviews, 5)"
      }
    ],
    "alerts": [
      {
        "condition": "averageRating < 3.5",
        "message": "Product rating below threshold: {{averageRating}}"
      },
      {
        "condition": "negativeReviews.count > 10",
        "message": "High volume of negative reviews detected"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Performance Optimization

Batch Processing

// Optimize for large-scale operations
{
  "batchConfig": {
    "batchSize": 50,
    "concurrency": 5,
    "delayBetweenBatches": 2000,
    "errorHandling": "continue",
    "progressTracking": true
  }
}

Caching Strategy

// Implement intelligent caching
{
  "cachingConfig": {
    "productData": {
      "ttl": 3600,
      "strategy": "lru",
      "maxSize": 1000
    },
    "priceData": {
      "ttl": 300,
      "strategy": "time-based",
      "refreshOnAccess": true
    }
  }
}

Rate Limiting

// Respect site rate limits
{
  "rateLimiting": {
    "requestsPerMinute": 60,
    "burstLimit": 10,
    "backoffStrategy": "exponential",
    "respectRobotsTxt": true
  }
}

Error Handling and Recovery

Robust Error Management

// Comprehensive error handling
{
  "errorHandling": {
    "retryConfig": {
      "maxRetries": 3,
      "backoffMultiplier": 2,
      "retryableErrors": ["NETWORK_ERROR", "TIMEOUT", "RATE_LIMIT"]
    },
    "fallbackStrategies": [
      {
        "error": "SELECTOR_NOT_FOUND",
        "action": "tryAlternativeSelectors"
      },
      {
        "error": "PRICE_PARSE_ERROR",
        "action": "useManualValidation"
      }
    ],
    "alerting": {
      "errorThreshold": 5,
      "timeWindow": 300,
      "notificationChannels": ["email", "slack"]
    }
  }
}

Monitoring and Maintenance

Performance Monitoring

// Track workflow performance
{
  "monitoring": {
    "metrics": [
      "executionTime",
      "successRate",
      "errorRate",
      "dataQuality"
    ],
    "dashboards": [
      "workflow_performance",
      "data_quality",
      "error_analysis"
    ],
    "alerts": [
      {
        "metric": "successRate",
        "threshold": 95,
        "operator": "less_than"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Maintenance Procedures

// Automated maintenance tasks
{
  "maintenance": {
    "schedules": [
      {
        "task": "validateSelectors",
        "frequency": "daily",
        "time": "02:00"
      },
      {
        "task": "cleanupOldData",
        "frequency": "weekly",
        "retention": "90d"
      }
    ]
  }
}