Returns, pre-orders, and wholesale orders that run on their own
A small label repeats the same steps all week. A customer asks to swap a size. A pre-order customer asks when their piece will ship. A stockist emails a wholesale order as a PDF. We set those steps to run on their own, so the exchange is set up, the pre-order update goes out, and the wholesale order lands in Shopify as a draft. You check the exceptions and approve the rest.
Get your AI Starter Plan
Fashion jobs that can run themselves
Size exchanges
Exchange requests are matched to the order in Shopify, stock for the new size is checked, and a return label and reply are drafted for you.
Pre-order updates
When the maker gives you a new ship date, every pre-order customer gets a personal update drafted from their order.
Wholesale orders
Stockist order forms from email are read and turned into draft orders, with anything unclear flagged to you.
Supplier invoices
Fabric and maker invoices are read from the inbox and drafted as bills in Xero, ready for your bookkeeper.
Where the week goes in a small label
Between drops, the work is small and endless. A customer bought a 10 and wants a 12. Someone who pre-ordered in March wants to know where their jacket is. A stockist in Hobart emails a wholesale order as a scanned form. The fabric supplier’s invoice needs to go into Xero. Each one takes ten minutes, and there are dozens a week. None of it needs a designer’s eye, but it all lands on the founder.
How the repeat work runs itself
Automating repeat work (the industry calls it workflow automation) means writing down the steps you already follow and setting them to run on their own. For a label, we usually start with size exchanges. A request comes in, the automation finds the order in Shopify, checks whether the new size is in stock, and drafts the reply with a return label. You check and send. Once that’s running, we add the next job, often pre-order updates or wholesale orders.
What we’ve seen in fashion
We work with a four-person fashion boutique whose owner used to count sell-through by hand every Sunday to decide reorders. A report built from Square sales now lists what sold, what sits, and suggested reorders, so the Sunday stocktake is gone. Buying decisions stay with the owner. That work was a report rather than an automation, but it shows the same pattern. The repeat job runs itself, and the judgement stays with a person.
What still comes to you
Faulty items, upset customers, and anything outside the usual steps come to you. The automation also can’t fix a stock count that’s wrong at the source, so if your shop and online numbers don’t match, we sort that first. And if your maker’s ship dates change weekly, pre-order updates will need your eye before they go.
If your evenings go on exchanges and order emails, get your AI Starter Plan and tell it which jobs repeat.
Related
Read about our Automating repeat work service, and how we help small teams in fashion.
Small teams we work with
How an animal rescue builds its 45-volunteer roster in an hour instead of an evening
How a five-person online homewares store stopped typing 60 supplier invoices a month into Xero
How a solo property manager with 140 rentals logs every repair request the same day
Common questions
Will customers get a cold, automated reply?
What about faulty items?
Do I need new software?
How much does it cost?
What won't it handle?
See which fashion jobs can run themselves
Tell us which steps you repeat every week. Get your AI Starter Plan and you'll see which to set running first.
Get your AI Starter Plan