Using Web data extraction of competitor pricing can help you optimize your margins
Smart phones and social media have empowered consumers in ways that would have been unbelievable just a few years ago. Customers today have full transparency into retail pricing across multiple products and retail distribution channels, placing increasing pressure on retailers and manufacturers to competitive price products and services. Insights into pricing are, therefore, today’s business imperative today.
Web data can support a dynamic pricing model, allowing you to adjust to marketplace conditions in near real time. While historical pricing data has been used to drive strategy and inform pricing models, an automated Web data extraction solution enables dynamic adjustment. This Web data informs decision-making and can be fed into your existing tools, such as a proprietary pricing model or an off-the-shelf analytics application.
An automated Web data extraction and monitoring solution can help you:
- Make more informed pricing decisions, widening the gap between you and your competitors
- Adjust pricing by geography and product category
- Uphold the pricing power of your brand
- Enhance your product positioning
In the examples that follow, Connotate’s solution enabled collection of Web-based competitive intelligence data for strategic results.
Make better pricing decisions
A biochemical manufacturer needed a faster, more efficient means to capture competitor price changes to replace its manual process that produced inaccurate data and distorted findings. Through automated Web data collection, the company leveraged accurate pricing intelligence on more than 180,000 products, helping it make the best possible product pricing and positioning decisions.
Adjust pricing by geography and product category with continually refreshed data
A retailer overtook its nearest competitor in national sales rankings and gained 10 percent market share by using Web data extraction and monitoring to track competitor prices on high-margin products. The retailer was able to collect millions of competitive price points in selected product categories and zip codes during periodic, scheduled sweeps and tracked “just the changes” between scheduled runs.
Uphold the pricing power of your brand
A distributor suspected that some of its retailers were violating contractual agreements by selling its premium-brand products below minimum price. Through use of an automated Web monitoring solution, the company was able to track suspected websites, mimicking shoppers’ transactions right through to the shopping cart to extract available inventory and pricing information. The company was also able to monitor suspected “dumping” websites to identify back-door acquisition of goods and subsequent resale. The distributor maintains constant vigil through continual updates on pricing and inventory throughout the distribution channel, ensuring proper pricing and positioning of its brand.
Enhance product positioning
A retailer increased sales of apps and games by automating its data collection processes needed to determine the ideal offer and pricing for used devices at a scale previously unachievable with manual processes. Using an automated Web data extraction and monitoring solution, the company was able to track and extract bidding prices for used devices from auction sites and selling prices for refurbished items from other sites. Ultimately, the retailer enhanced its apps and games positioning by offering customers an array of affordable, compatible hardware.
Automated Web data extraction and monitoring for the intelligence professional
Strategically, automated Web-based competitive pricing data collection can result in bottom-line improvements, including:
- Increased market share and market share positioning
- Optimal product positioning
- Improved distribution channel integrity
Learn more about how Connotate’s competitive and pricing intelligence solution can help you. Download a complimentary copy of “Competitive Intelligence and the Web.”
The post The Intelligent Guide to Competitive Intelligence, Part 1 — Pricing appeared first on Connotate.