Apply a pricing robot to monitor your competitive situation

Learn more about how to improve your price position in the market and how to increase your profit by the use of web scraping.

Anna Wawrzyniak
4 min read
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Apply a pricing robot to monitor your competitive situation

If you look to get an overview of your competitive situation in the market, you have found the right spot. It's advantageous for your firm to apply a price comparison software if you are selling many products, don't have time to adjust your prices, or sell a few products and want to be competitive on price. 

A way to ensure that you have an overview of your competitive situation is by applying a pricing robot. This blog will provide you with the needed knowledge to understand how implementing a pricing robot can be a huge advantage for your firm and increase your profit. 

Agenda:

  • What is a pricing robot?
  • What is scraping?
  • Automatic vs. manual scraping
  • How does web scraping work?
  • How can web scraping contribute to your business?
  • Real-life examples of web scraping
  • How can the use of a pricing robot be seen as a win-win situation?
  • How does a pricing robot increase the revenue?
  • Optimize your earnings by applying a pricing robot

What is a pricing robot?

A pricing robot is a software program using algorithms to examine data online. All you have to do is to provide your product feed and let the robot do the rest of the work. Based on your provided data, the pricing robot can scrape your competitive situation in the online market and provide you an overview of competitor data. 

What is scraping?

Scraping is the process that makes it possible for you to collect data online. Often scraping is applied through automated software. The scraping process detects and collects data in the same way as your browser. When you are satisfied with the data you have gathered online, you can export the data into a file of your own choice. 

Automatic vs. manual scraping

You have definitely already applied scraping in a simple manner. Every time you copy-paste data that you have collected online, you are applying a manual scraping process. 

However, it is impossible to collect the necessary data of your competitors by applying a manual scraping process. To collect the needed data to monitor your competitive situation, you will have to apply a price comparison software.

Through a price comparison software, huge amounts of data are scraped through an automated process. Intelligent algorithms are gathering infinite amounts of online information.

How does web scraping work?

Scraping can be divided into two separate parts; a web crawler and a web scraper. In the following, we are providing you an overview of these two aspects.

Web crawling is the process leading to web scraping. It is an AI, which systematically searches data online by following different links etc. Thereby, web crawling is applied to find different URLs, which can be passed on to the scraping process.

Web scraping is a specialized tool applied after the web crawler has finished its job. Web scraping is collecting data from different websites. You can apply web scraping to get an insight into different types of data. If you are, for instance, applying a pricing robot, you are scraping online to find competitors' price positions to strengthen your own competitive situation.  

Fully automatic setup saves time and increases quality

How can web scraping contribute to your business?

The need to scrape data online has increased a lot during the last few years. One of the most important reasons is that an increased need to have a great position at Google Shopping has emerged. By getting access to your competitors' data, you can improve your own price position in the market. 

Google Shopping favors lower prices, wherefore you can strengthen your competitive situation by knowing your competitors' price points. With web scraping, your firm can make your business more effective and place your marketing expenses on your competitive products. 

Real-life examples of web scraping

Google, Pricerunner, and Ahrefs are just a few examples of companies applying scraping in their everyday business. By using scraping, these companies are, e.g., providing an overview of online keywords, the Google Shopping position for different companies, and the different price positions for products sold online. 

Web scraping can, as mentioned, be applied to scrape different types of data. It is, for instance, popular to use scraping for lead generation. In this example, the scraping process collects contact information that is already available online. It is often applied within the B2B sector to find potential customers and partners. 

Another example where it is useful to apply web scraping is when you want to collect industry-specific data. This approach is especially applied by companies who want to create a database. If useful information has been collected through the scraping process, it is possible to resell the gathered data to other companies. 

How can the use of a pricing robot be seen as a win-win situation?

A pricing robot is both an advantage for the customers and the companies applying it. Implementing a pricing robot is an overall advantage for the customers, as they can find the cheapest product online. At the same time, the consumers are having a more comfortable and simple shopping experience, as it is easier through a price comparison software to get an overview of the different suppliers in the market. 

On the other hand, companies are also achieving an advantage by the use of a pricing robot. This software is increasing your conversion rate, improving your lead generation and customer service, as you get knowledge about the competitive price position in the market and at the same time knowledge about the consumers buying behavior.

How does a pricing robot increase the revenue?

By applying a pricing robot, your company will have the possibility to monitor the competitive situation in the market. Based on this, you will get an overview of which pricing strategies to apply to succeed. 

If you are experiencing that one of your products is followed by high demand, you should consider if it is beneficial for you to increase the product's price without losing any customers. This decision will depend on your competitors' price positions in the market.  

On the other hand, if one of your products is difficult to sell, you have to put an extra effort into this product. A way to do so is by decreasing the price or advertising your product more actively. This consideration depends on whether it is beneficial for you to place your marketing expenses on this product. 

By applying a price comparison software, such as PriceShape, you will have the possibility to analyze your products' competitiveness. The use of a pricing robot can determine if you should prioritize using more marketing expenses on your products. 

Optimize your earnings by applying a pricing robot

Price decisions are crucial in modern society. The consumer's choice of product is especially affected by the price of the product. Therefore, you must prioritize your pricing strategies to choose the most optimal prices for your products. 

PriceShape’s software applies pricing robots to gather data and information online. These collected pieces of information provide you an overview of your competitive situation in the market and increase your profit as well. At the same time, you get access to useful features, including an insight into your competitors' pricing history and their stock status. You can apply PriceShape’s software to achieve a complete overview of your market position.

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