“The price works so well, so efficiently, that we are not aware of it most of the time.” These words of Milton Friedman, an American economist, are especially relevant when we talk about price monitoring as a strategy to enhance efficiency and outpace rivals. So, we can’t reject the fact that price tracking assists in making more informed decisions.
Today, in the market, tools for price monitoring are a dime a dozen. Thanks to that, you can opt for software that fits your needs. But not all e-commerce price monitoring tools are good enough. Some, based on data science and machine learning, are advanced, while others can be very primitive and limited in functionality.
Now, here’s a question: how to see the light at the end of the tunnel and pick up smart price tracking software? The answer is pretty simple: to analyze the most popular tools and reveal their benefits.
In this article, the Forbytes team is going to talk about some well-known e-commerce price tracking tools, explore why users love them, and explain how they can assist you. Let’s dive in!
What Are E-Commerce Price Monitoring Tools?
Retailer price monitoring is a practice of tracking your competitors to gather insights on their prices, products, and strategies. With price intelligence software, you can keep an eye on your competitors and learn how they approach pricing. That’s why using such a tool is a great opportunity to make your e-commerce platform more prosperous and competitive.
Price intelligence software may take different forms from web apps and web extensions to mobile apps and in-store price trackers. The choice will depend on your specific purpose.
What are the key functions of e-commerce price monitoring tools? First, they monitor prices across different platforms and inform about real-time price changes. Second, they’re good at comparing product prices and identifying pricing strategies employed by rivals. Finally, these tools perform an analytical function by showing how prices have changed over time.
How Can You Benefit From Monitoring Competitor Prices?
The e-commerce market is skyrocketing and shows no signs of slowing down. According to Statista, global e-commerce sales reached $5,2 trillion in 2021. Astonishing, isn’t it? But is it worth the candle to join a market filled with such fierce competition?
Let me explain! With a quality price monitoring tool, your chances of staying ahead of the game are higher, especially if this software is advanced and smart. As a result, you’ll enjoy numerous benefits.
Better understanding of e-commerce market dynamics
With a price tracking tool, you’ll be able to analyze a market landscape, incorporate new trends, and see your place among competitors. This a good way to stay dynamic and adaptive, knowing the situation in e-commerce. Plus, with a price monitoring tool, you can stay more flexible and adaptive, especially in terms of adjusting your price strategy.
For example, PriceGrid can assist you in conducting market research and analyzing not only competitors’ pricing strategies but also their products. As a result, you can use these data for the improvement of your strategies.
Optimizing pricing strategy and profits
By monitoring competitor prices, you’ll be able to adjust your pricing strategy and increase your profitability without alienating your customers. What’s more, this provides an opportunity to keep your pricing competitive. Tracking price tools can help you set up automation rules, allowing you to change prices automatically on holidays and weekends. As a result, during events and holidays like Black Friday, New Year, and Christmas, your sales will peak.
For example, Prisync usually offers special limited-time discounts by boosting retailers’ sales. Plus, their subscription plans are flexible and adaptable. This means that you can stay on the same wavelength, offering deals that will attract new clients.
Catering to customers’ needs
Keeping an eye on competitors’ prices is a good way to meet the expectations of cost-conscious customers. Plus, by staying informed about the e-commerce market, you can make instant adjustments to your prices. Consumers love special deals, sales, and promotions. So, you can extend your influence by adapting your prices accordingly.
For example, according to Price2Spy, employing price monitoring tools can potentially save up to 92% of labor costs and several hours of productive time.
Enhanced decision-making
Tracking competitor prices is a ground for data-driven decision-making. By comparing prices, you can establish yourself in e-commerce and identify areas where you can innovate to stand out from the crowd.
For example, you may find that your direct competitor has launched a new product. With a price monitoring tool, you can gather all the information on it from pricing to features, and create something similar. With access to data and insights from others, you can make more informed decisions.
Driving brand strength
When you use price monitoring tools, you can differentiate your brand name. And offering unique discounts and loyalty programs is one of the ways to do this. Additionally, you can reveal your price approach through your brand story.
Another advantage of price tracking contributing to your brand is its capacity to determine whether a product is popular or is running low on stock. As a result, you’ll know which products should be replaced.
So, see how price-tracking tools can fuel your e-commerce platforms and what benefits they can bring to the table. Now when you’re aware of them, it’s high time to go through the list of price intelligence software to opt for the most relevant one for your business.
Top Price Monitoring Tools for E-commerce and Retail
Price2Spy
Overview. Price2Spy was created by WEBCentric d.o.o., a software development company. This online price monitoring and pricing analytics tool was designed for e-commerce professionals and is currently used by over 680 companies globally.
Strengths. First, this price tracking tool is flexible and customizable, adapting to clients’ needs. Second, it can monitor an unlimited number of competitors at the same time. What’s more, it offers prompt customer support to resolve any issues. Another winning point of Price2Spy is its ability to track additional product information such as product data, sales information, and import/export data.
Weaknesses. One of the disadvantages of Price2Spy is that the company doesn’t offer a complete package an organization needs. Users also report some issues with this price monitoring tool when checking multiple product platforms, such as Amazon.
How you can benefit from it. Using Price2Spy, you can receive automated reports on competitor prices, saving both time and resources. Their support team is always on hand to answer all your questions and explain how to use the tool efficiently.
Prisync
Overview. Prisync is a big data tool used by e-commerce to automate pricing tasks. Today, over 48 global companies use this software to drive their sales growth and profit margins.
Strengths. First, this price monitoring tool is a highly dynamic tool that enables companies to track competitors and check updates on their prices. Another winning point for this software is its user-friendly interface, requiring minimal time for learning. What’s more, it has a quick filter, enabling the targeting of certain product groups.
Weaknesses. First, users are complaining about being bombarded with tons of email notifications. Plus, while Prisync offers automatic matching, it would be good to match by product name and image.
How you can benefit from it. With this price tracking software, you can stay competitive by being always informed about rivals’ prices and the market situation. What’s more, it allows you to save data history and observe price dynamics.
PriceGrid
Overview. PriceGrid is a cloud-based pricing optimization platform designed for conducting market research, analyzing competitors’ prices, and improving pricing strategy accordingly. This price tracking software has its API, enabling companies to integrate this tool with various third-party apps.
Strengths. PriceGrid offers an excellent user experience with its user-friendly interface and quality user interaction. Thanks to that, clients are satisfied with the tool, which provides not only valuable insights but also support.
Weaknesses. PriceGrid’s functionality is limited to two functions: price monitoring and price optimizations while other price tracking tools offer more options.
How you can benefit from it. With this tool, you can ensure better positioning in the market. Based on the collected data, you can act knowing how to modify your products and prices to resist cut-throating competition in e-commerce.
We just presented a few price-tracking tools, but many others come with their pros and cons. How can you avoid getting lost and pick the best one? We’re going to arm you with tactics to make an informed choice.
How to Choose the Right Price-Tracking Tool?
Now it’s high time to define the criteria of quality and efficient price monitoring tools. Making the best decision isn’t an easy task, especially when it comes to picking from a dime-a-dozen offers. But we prepared a list of criteria that an e-commerce pricing monitoring tool should meet to be considered the best.
- Accurate product matching. If you want your tool to ensure accuracy, go for software that offers both manual and automatic matching. A combination of a machine and people can help avoid inconveniences and achieve the best result.
- Frequent price monitoring. A price monitoring tool should always be at your service regularly performing tracking tasks for you. Truly efficient software can perform multiple price checks per day to provide you with the latest data.
- Notifications. A price tracking tool should be equipped with powerful reporting mechanisms and send timely notifications to ensure that you do not miss important information.
- Customer support. You shouldn’t be alone when there is a problem. So, along with a price tracking tool, you should have access to customer support services. Your answers should be answered promptly.
- Privacy. Using monitoring price services, you should be sure that your privacy is respected and protected. So, opt for tools that care about safeguarding private information.
- Flexibility. The best e-commerce price monitoring software should be flexible and adaptive to respond to different needs. That’s why it should be customized to meet clients’ expectations.
- Repricing. It’s not enough to just monitor prices. It’s necessary to apply smart price monitoring tools to take action and be able to perform repricing. Gathering data is not the only function a price monitoring software should have.
- Multi-currency. It’s important to monitor prices in different currencies. So, you should check out whether a tracking tool you’re going to use can capture prices in currencies you need.
All in all, a quality price tracking tool should be customized, secure, smart, advanced, and multitasking. We hope that this list will assist you in making a good choice.
Conclusion
Our overview of the top price monitoring services shows that their quality and efficacy are determined by the features and benefits they offer. So when you are looking to opt for them, you have to understand your needs and orient to our criteria of a good price tracking software.
And if you’re still confused and can’t make your choice, Forbytes get you covered. We consult our e-commerce clients and assist in investing money in trendy and contemporary solutions. Refer to our e-commerce consulting services to weigh the pros and cons of your business decision. Not only do we answer your questions, but we also prepare the action plan for your successful digital journey. We’re interested in saving your time and costs while delivering client-centric services.
Having expertise in e-commerce, we can conduct an audit of a price monitoring tool for your business and give you recommendations on the best software to use. Don’t hesitate to contact us, and we’ll back to you as soon as possible.
