Price Intelligence Solutions: How To Choose The Right One. Full Guide for 2024

In the fiercely competitive world of retail and e-commerce, businesses are constantly seeking tools that can give them an edge. Among the most sought-after are price intelligence solutions. As the market diversifies, understanding the various tiers of pricing intelligence tools becomes essential. So, how do you navigate these waters and select the right one for your business?

‍

1. Basic Price Data Solutions

Starting at the base, some tools predominantly offer raw price data.

Example: EasyPricer specialises in providing raw pricing data scraped from various online marketplaces. It's a straightforward tool for those who just want data without the frills.

Quality Considerations:

When you’re choosing data-related tools that only supply you with market intelligence it make sense to go for the quality data.

What does it mean, “quality data”?

High-Quality Data: This implies data that is accurate, timely, sourced from reputable platforms, and broad in scope. It also implies that your products are accurately marched with other products sold online. If the match is done wrong the pricing data you receive is irrelevant.

Imagine this: you’re selling Calvin Klein brand in your sporting goods online store. You want to know how other stores price Calvin Klein say, jackets. You don’t want to be an outlier and when everyone offers 50% discount sit and wait when customers come to your store to buy a jacket at a full price.

To compare your jacket with the same jackets in other stores pricing intelligence tools can use 2 methods:

• Web scraping

• API integrations

API integrations are the most solid way. However, it has certain limitations. For example, Amazon can share API with some solution providers. While Idealo as well as all other marketplaces ( Onbuy, ASOS, Zalando etc.) does not. Not to mention Google Shopping that doesn’t even have API.

Therefore, most pricing solutions providers use web scrapping as a method to collect pricing data from relevant websites and platforms. But this method also has limitations that relate directly to data quality. A solution scraps the following parameters of every product: GTIN or EAN, name and price. But many platforms and websites don’t publish product GTIN at all! In this case, low quality data providers will tell you: sorry, no relevant items were detected. High quality data providers would find other ways to do a match (by name and semantic analysis, colour, size, prediction etc.)

 Comparing Tools

• High-Quality Tool: Aimondo MAP Monitoring can acquire data and correctly match products even without GTIN or with incorrectly specified GTIN.

• Budget Tool: PriceScrap — a solution for very simple and straightforward matches where no mistakes are possible.

Who will benefit from it the most

Raw Pricing data is important for brands, manufacturers and distributors. It helps them monitor who adhere to their MAP policies, get a better control over their distribution network, and send a more consistent brand message via the price.

2. Dynamic Pricing Solutions

A step up are solutions that not only provide price data but also allow for dynamic pricing based on real-time market conditions.

Quality Metric: The effectiveness of these tools largely depends on the speed of their repricing engines.

Why is this important:

Dynamic pricing is a strategy used by eCommerce companies to leverage small opportunities. For example, your competitors go out of stock and you end up being the only seller. You can easily raise your price up to the higher limit of MSRP. Customer will have no choice but to buy from you, and you will have a higher profit margin.

But it all makes sense when you actin real time. If you use outdated data and raise your prices when competitor shave already restocked their shelves you only lose. Therefore, the speed of action is crucial here. And therefore, if you want to leverage hidden opportunities, repricing should be done automatically by pricing intelligence, not manually by your managers.

 Examples:

•  Aimondo Repricing Solution is reputed for its near-instantaneous repricing capabilities, letting businesses stay competitive in real-time. Offers searches and handling of millions of prices as frequently as every hour.

• Skuuudle is another tool that promises rapid response to market changes, crucial for competitive price intelligence.

Who will benefit from it the most?

Dynamic pricing as a part of price intelligence is beneficial to eCommerce and retail. Online stores can use smart repricing to improve their market position, speed up business development and definitely remove the pressure from the profitability most retailers have been suffering from for the last 2-3 years.

3. Advanced Price Intelligence Solutions

The top tier of price intelligence solutions offers a blend of raw data, dynamic pricing, and price optimisation. These use AI-powered demand predictions and price elasticity validation to craft intelligent pricing strategies.

Features to Look Out For:

•  AI-driven demand forecasting.

•  Price elasticity analysis to determine how price changes might impact demand.

Who will benefit from it the most?

Advanced pricing intelligence powered by AI and predictive analytics is relevant to medium sized to enterprise -type market players. These tools (like Aimondo price optimisation) can help them exit stock at a predictable pace, mitigate overstocks and overall improve business health score.

 The world of pricing intelligence is vast, and the right tool largely depends on your business needs. Whether you're looking for basic price data or a comprehensive solution that incorporates competitive pricing intelligence and intelligent pricing strategies, the market has something to offer.

Always prioritise data quality and consider how real-time you need your repricing to be. And as AI continues to revolutionise this domain, staying updated with the latest in price intelligence will give your business the competitive edge it needs.

‍