Automated product card updates
Catalogue updates were done by hand through the admin panel: copy, paste, save, repeat. A scheduled script now does it unattended.
Outcome
- ~1,300 product cards a month with zero manual work
- Around 6 hours a week saved
- Copy-paste errors eliminated entirely
- Role
- Process automation
- Time it took
- 3 days
The problem
The catalogue was updated by hand through the shop's admin panel. Every card meant: open it, paste text into three fields, save, wait for the reload, move to the next one. Across a thousand cards that is not «a bit of busywork», it is half a day of work every week.
What I built
A script that walks the same path by itself: it takes the data from a spreadsheet, finds the card, fills the fields, saves. It runs on a schedule and reports exactly what it changed.
Why not «just use the API»
The first thing I checked was whether an API existed. Some fields can indeed be updated through it and some cannot, they only live in the admin panel. So the work is split: everything reachable through the API goes through the API, because that is faster and more reliable, and the rest is done in a browser.
Safeguards
The script deletes nothing. Before writing, it stores the previous value, so any change can be rolled back. If the page structure changed and a field is not found, the script stops and says so rather than carrying on blindly.
Stack
- Python
- Playwright
- REST API
Got a similar task?
Describe it in two sentences. I'll tell you if it can be automated and roughly what it costs.