AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Online Merchants?

Task-level automation exposure for Online Merchants: 34 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

65% weighted task index

34 of 34 tasks scored

Median Salary

$83,050 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Very High

1,087,090 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+3.9% employment change

98,700 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 54 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$46,700 – $108,160

Highest medians

District of Columbia $108,160

Maryland $101,500

Washington $100,360

Alabama $100,240

Delaware $95,040

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $46,700

Arkansas $61,240

Louisiana $63,220

Virgin Islands $65,170

Nevada $67,330

State figures come from the 13-1199 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 65%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 0%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 42%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 19%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 8/100 Low

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

34 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 73%

25 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 27%

9 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 0%

0 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#15718 · Core · 55% automatable

Fill customer orders by packaging sold items and documentation for direct shipping or by transferring orders to manufacturers or third-party distributors.

data analysis — Financial execution software-mediated; authorization human

Execute sales or other financial transactions.

#15731 · Core · 35% automatable

Receive and process payments from customers, using electronic transaction services.

physical manipulation — In-person payment handling; some digital automation

Collect payments for goods or services.

#15710 · Core · 60% automatable

Create, manage, or automate orders or invoices, using order management or invoicing software.

decision support — Purchase research automatable; human authorizes spend

Purchase products or services.

#15709 · Core · 55% automatable

Deliver e-mail confirmation of completed transactions and shipment.

data analysis — Financial execution software-mediated; authorization human

Execute sales or other financial transactions.

#15728 · Core · 72% automatable

Correspond with online customers via electronic mail, telephone, or other electronic messaging to address questions or complaints about products, policies, or shipping methods.

text generation — Written correspondence to customers is largely automatable

Correspond with customers to answer questions or resolve complaints.

#15733 · Core · 60% automatable

Purchase new or used items from online or physical sources for resale via retail or auction Web site.

decision support — Purchase research automatable; human authorizes spend

Purchase products or services.

#15707 · Core · 70% automatable

Determine and set product prices.

decision support — Valuation aided; human owns final value judgment

Determine the value of goods or services.

#15730 · Core · 80% automatable

Calculate purchase subtotals, taxes, and shipping costs for submission to customers.

data analysis — Organizational calculations from given data

Calculate data to inform organizational operations.

#15734 · Core · 72% automatable

Compose descriptions of merchandise for posting to online storefront, auction sites, or other shopping Web sites.

text generation — Drafts copy and concepts; brand judgment and final polish human

Create marketing materials.

#15729 · Core · 70% automatable

Compose images of products, using video or still cameras, lighting equipment, props, or photo or video editing software.

text generation — Data/product visuals generated; human selects and verifies

Create images of data, locations, or products.

#15703 · Core · 72% automatable

Upload digital media, such as photos, video, or scanned images to online storefront, auction sites, or other shopping Web sites.

text generation — Drafts copy and concepts; brand judgment and final polish human

Create marketing materials.

#15735 · Core · 80% automatable

Calculate revenue, sales, and expenses, using financial accounting or spreadsheet software.

data analysis — Organizational calculations from given data

Calculate data to inform organizational operations.

#15714 · Core · 55% automatable

Cancel orders based on customer requests or inventory or delivery problems.

data analysis — Financial execution software-mediated; authorization human

Execute sales or other financial transactions.

#15732 · Core · 66% automatable

Prepare or organize online storefront marketing material, including product descriptions or subject lines, optimizing content to search engine criteria.

text generation — Drafts copy and concepts; brand judgment and final polish human

Create marketing materials. Market products, services, or events.

#15704 · Core · 60% automatable

Order or purchase merchandise to maintain optimal inventory levels.

decision support — Purchase research automatable; human authorizes spend

Purchase products or services.

#15726 · Core · 72% automatable

Determine location for product listings to maximize exposure to online traffic.

text generation — Drafts copy and concepts; brand judgment and final polish human

Create marketing materials.

#15711 · Core · 85% automatable

Create or maintain database of customer accounts.

data analysis — Enter and maintain data in information systems

Maintain data in information systems or databases.

#15717 · Core · 60% automatable

Promote products in online communities through weblog or discussion-forum postings, e-mail marketing programs, or online advertising.

text generation — Marketing content and plans drafted; human executes

Market products, services, or events.

#15713 · Core · 60% automatable

Collaborate with search engine shopping specialists to place marketing content in desired online locations.

text generation — Marketing content and plans drafted; human executes

Market products, services, or events.

#15721 · Core · 62% automatable

Investigate products or markets to determine areas for opportunity or viability for merchandising specific products, using online or offline sources.

decision support — Strategic investment judgment needs human ownership

Identify strategic business investment opportunities.

#15705 · Core · 50% automatable

Maintain inventory of shipping supplies, such as boxes, labels, tape, bubble wrap, loose packing materials, or tape guns.

decision support — Allocation decisions need human judgment and authority

Allocate physical resources within organizations.

#15719 · Core · 80% automatable

Measure and analyze Web site usage data to maximize search engine returns or refine customer interfaces.

data analysis — Analyzes structured financial data with tools

Analyze business or financial data.

#15725 · Core · 55% automatable

Develop or revise business plans for online business, emphasizing factors such as product line, pricing, inventory, or marketing strategy.

text generation — Business plans drafted; human owns assumptions and risk

Develop financial or business plans.

#15708 · Core · 72% automatable

Disclose merchant information and terms and policies of transactions in online or offline materials.

text generation — Written correspondence to customers is largely automatable

Correspond with customers to answer questions or resolve complaints.

#15727 · Supplemental · 72% automatable

Design customer interface of online storefront, using web programming or e-commerce software.

text generation — Drafts copy and concepts; brand judgment and final polish human

Create marketing materials.

#15716 · Supplemental · 60% automatable

Select and purchase technical web services, such as web hosting services, online merchant accounts, shopping cart software, payment gateway software, or spyware.

decision support — Purchase research automatable; human authorizes spend

Purchase products or services.

#15715 · Supplemental · 55% automatable

Transfer digital media, such as music, video, or software, to customers via the Internet.

data analysis — Financial execution software-mediated; authorization human

Execute sales or other financial transactions.

#15724 · Supplemental · 66% automatable

Devise, select, or purchase domain name and web address.

text generation — Drafts copy and concepts; brand judgment and final polish human

Create marketing materials. Purchase products or services.

#15722 · Supplemental · 55% automatable

Initiate online auctions through auction hosting sites or auction management software.

data analysis — Financial execution software-mediated; authorization human

Execute sales or other financial transactions.

#15723 · Supplemental · 60% automatable

Implement security practices to preserve assets, minimize liabilities, or ensure customer privacy, using parallel servers, hardware redundancy, fail-safe technology, information encryption, or firewalls.

decision support — AI drafts system specs; business context human

Develop business or financial information systems.

#15720 · Supplemental · 72% automatable

Investigate sources, such as auctions, estate sales, liquidators, wholesalers, or trade shows for new items, used items, or collectibles.

information retrieval — Web research on goods/services, human verifies vendors

Obtain information about goods or services.

#15702 · Supplemental · 78% automatable

Participate in online forums or conferences to stay abreast of online retailing trends, techniques, or security threats.

information retrieval — AI surfaces updates; human internalizes knowledge

Update professional knowledge.

#15706 · Supplemental · 55% automatable

Integrate online retailing strategy with physical or catalogue retailing operations.

decision support — Strategy drafts aided; executives own market judgment

Develop business or market strategies.

#15712 · Supplemental · 72% automatable

Create or distribute offline promotional material, such as brochures, pamphlets, business cards, stationary, or signage.

text generation — Drafts copy and concepts; brand judgment and final polish human

Create marketing materials.

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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