In today’s global market, staying ahead of competitors can be a challenging task. With numerous competitors located all over the world, it becomes crucial to monitor their prices on similar or identical products to yours. But how can you proceed without having to spend too much time on the task?
The solution resides in scraping your competitor’s website. Here is an introduction to scraping and why it is the solution to maintaining a competitive edge.
How does scraping work?
To easily understand how scraping works and how it can help you maintain your competitiveness, let’s compare it to grocery shopping. First, you have to prepare a shopping list of the specific items you are looking for, which in this case will be prices and products.
There are no aisles and shelves on the internet, so you will need to use a specific tool like ZenRows to collect the data. By inputting requests for specific competitor URLs, you can track their prices and adjust your own accordingly. The collected information can then be stored in a database. By analyzing this data daily, you will be able to remain the leader in your industry.
However, some websites make it difficult for you to recuperate the data. They do so through the use of bot-detecting technology. One of the most common and efficient on the market is called Cloudflare. It is a web application firewall meant to defend against cyber attacks and it can prevent you from scraping a website.
However, you can bypass Cloudflare with Selenium. Having the ability to simulate human interaction, this headless browser is one of the most effective solutions for overcoming this issue.
Why is scraping the Best Solution to maintain a Competitive Edge?
As we’ve already explained, scraping is the most effective method for obtaining and monitoring competitors’ prices. It allows you to adapt your own pricing so that your company remains competitive. But it also enables you to make other decisions that can lead to an increase in market share.
Therefore, when using a web scraping API, you should also proceed to requests that will help you gather information on product details as well as customer reviews. This will give you a comprehensive understanding of your competitors’ strategies and positioning in the market.
With that information in hand, it is up to you to reposition your offer in view of what customers are looking for (customer reviews) and develop new products that will possess all the qualities and advantages described in the product details that you will have collected through scraping.
Conclusion
To monitor competitors’ products and prices without investing too much of your time, it is essential to utilize an automated technique like scraping. To avoid being blocked by anti-bot protection, it is recommended to use a tool like Selenium’s headless browser.
With the data it will collect, you will be able to stay ahead of your competition, all the while making informed decisions about your market position.
