Top 10 tools for monitoring competitor prices in 2019-2020

Top 10 tools for monitoring competitor prices in 2019-2020

Today people first study and compare prices online before they buy or order something. Obviously, the experience of interaction with the company is the main factor for the transition of one-time buyers to regular customers. However, price is no less a driving factor, especially for new customers. It follows that price monitoring is crucial for your business.

What is price monitoring?

Price monitoring is also called price analysis (or monitoring of competitive prices) and is an analysis of internal and external (statistics of price changes and their current level) price fluctuations to optimize your pricing strategy.

How is price monitoring useful in business?

For internal analysis:

Monitoring your price history will help to reflect your market strategy. Along with product rotation and brand value studies, price monitoring can be useful in developing an optimal price strategy and maximizing profits.

For market competition analysis:

Monitoring the prices of competitors allows you to get information about them, which is undoubtedly important in market analysis. Based on the information collected, such as the price/quality ratio of the product and the target group, you can get an idea of your position in the market. In short, the price monitoring tool is a MUST HAVE! This article presents the best price monitoring tools, and to ease your choice, I have classified them below.

Tools for Parsing Sites

Parsing tools are cost-effective  and suitable for small and medium-sized businesses with limited budgets. In comparison with software for price monitoring, the advantages of parsers are as follows:

Versatility: in addition to price monitoring, parsers can be used for lido generation, risk management, research and market analysis.

Diversification: In addition, the parsers are applicable in a wide range of industries, including real estate rental and sale, hotel business, consulting, and more. By contrast, price monitoring software is narrowly focused and can only be used in electronic trading.Mozenda Year of foundation: 2008 Services: web data extraction Free Trial: available, 30 days Fee: USD 250 per month Options for use: Tracking competitors with the help of price monitoring (article in English) Import.io Year of foundation: 2012 Services: data integration Free Trial: no Fee: individual pricing plan (from USD 299 to USD 9999) Options for use: How to track your price with Import. io (English article) Octoparse Year of foundation: 2016 Services: Parsing tool (web scanner); information services; corporate service Free trial: for 14 days Free trial: from USD 0 to USD 249 Usage options: Get price information by template (English article) Using Octoparse parser templates, anyone can find out the product price and other information from Amazon anytime and anywhere. The next result can be obtained with Octoparse.

Platforms/software for price monitoring

Platforms/software price monitoring, as the name implies, are designed to help online retailers and are used to monitor and track prices. From what we can say that, unlike tools for parsing, this is a professional software with a payment system pay-as-you-go (payment for the service as you use it). 

Data Crops Introduction: Aruhat Technologies was founded in 2004 and is a certified Indian software company offering business development and innovative technologies based on its core competence in data collection…  Paid Version: Individual Pricing Free Trial Version:  not available.

Pluses:

• wide coverage in data collection, from business analytics to pricing and revaluation tools;
• easy to use interface

Minuses:

• limitation on the amount of data that can be extracted;
• sometimes you can’t get the data.

Include:

• diverse data collection;
• image extraction (article in English);
• document extraction;
• email notification.

Prisync Introduction: Prisync is a SaaS company specializing in price optimization and dynamic pricing for enterprises in the Internet trading industry. It provides customers with a competitive price tracking system. Paid version: from USD 59 per month. Free trial version: for 14 days

Pluses:

• the service includes a variety of services from product range definition to price strategy development;
• accurate price updates in real time; email notifications.

Minuses:

• the complexity of setting up a stable and effective model;
• some aspects of configuration require serious technical skills.

 Include:

• revaluation mechanism;
• integrated reporting;
• frequent updates;
• an unlimited number of competitors for analysis;
• enhanced analysis

Omnia Dynamic Pricing Introduction: Omnia provides a full range of automation tools to help you create pricing and marketing strategies and take control of your product range. Paid version: a customized tariff plan. Free trial: you can get a free trial version by contacting your provider.

Pluses:

• the software allows you flexibly customize the monitoring model;
• easy to use, explains how the software algorithm works, has tips for optimizing your work;
• a comprehensive training system.

Minuses:

• too expensive for a small company;
• provides online support only during your working hours.

Include:

• individual approach to pricing;
• calculation of price flexibility;
• integrated automation;
• complete transparency.

Price2Spy Introduction: Price2Spy is an online price monitoring tool for Internet trading professionals. Paid version: from USD 19.95 per month Free trial version: not available

Pluses:

• the application is available on iOS and Android platforms, there is a version of the web application;
• covers most of the product range and provides up-to-date hints.

Minuses:

• does not update price information in time (synchronization problem);
• the toolbar is not very user-friendly.

 Functions:

• price comparison;
• price change notifications;
• reporting and price analytics;
• smart parser;
• API.

Skuuudle Introduction: Skuuudle is an intelligent monitoring platform that automatically compares your prices with competitors. Thanks to a good understanding of the prices of a certain marketplace, Skuuudle helps you get daily information about prices and products. Paid version: from USD 89 per month. Free trial version: available by contacting your provider.

Pluses:

• an end-to-end platform for visualizing price monitoring;
• data comes on time with perfect accuracy;
• a monthly report is provided.

Minuses:

• provides online support only during your working hours.

Features:

• data collection;
• product comparison;
• quality control;
• easy-to-use analytics;
• is in the cloud;
• first-class support.

Repricer Introduction: Repricer is a price monitoring tool that focuses on product revaluation for Amazon. Paid version: from USD 69 per month Free trial version: 14 days 

Pluses:

• supports 11 international trading platforms for Amazon;
• optimization of the Buy Box strategy on Amazon;
• easy navigation.

Minuses:

• provides software and service only to Amazon merchants;
• price information is not updated in time – synchronization issues.

 Features:

• revaluation;
• competitor analysis (Amazon sellers only);
• flexible setup rules;
• reliability and security.

Minderest Introduction: Minderest is an innovative company in price and assortment intelligence for both retailers and manufacturers. Paid version: individual tariff plan. Free trial version: not available.

 Pluses:

• provides monitoring services not only for retailers, but also at brand level;
• mobile application availability; API extraction available;
• customer support: by phone, via the chat interface in the application, or by email.

Minuses:

• limitation of price collection for merchants requiring authorization;
• sometimes the information is slowly updated.

 Includes

• a mobile app is available in appstore;
• brand comparison tracking services.

Conclusion: 

Without additional tools and services, price monitoring can be quite difficult work. Although our list of price monitoring tools is far from complete, it is worth starting with its analysis. Simply select the service that best suits your specific marketing needs and while it may take time to use a new tool, in the long term your business will grow.