Monitor Competitor Prices

Monitor Competitor Prices

What You’ll Build

Create an automated system that tracks competitor prices across multiple websites and alerts you to changes, helping you stay competitive in the market.

⏱️ Time: 15 minutes 🎯 Difficulty: Intermediate ✅ Result: Automated price monitoring system with alerts

Why This Matters

• Stay Competitive: React quickly to competitor price changes
• Maximize Profits: Optimize your pricing strategy with real-time data
• Save Research Time: Automated monitoring instead of manual checking
• Spot Trends: Identify pricing patterns and market movements

What Goes In, What Comes Out

Input	Output
List of competitor URLs	Price comparison report
Your current prices	Price change alerts
Monitoring schedule	Historical price data

Example: 10 competitor products → Daily price report + instant alerts

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Set Up Your Monitoring List

Create a list of competitor products to track:

{
  "competitors": [
    {
      "name": "Competitor A",
      "product": "Laptop Pro",
      "url": "https://competitor-a.com/laptop-pro",
      "your_price": 1299.99
    },
    {
      "name": "Competitor B",
      "product": "Laptop Pro",
      "url": "https://competitor-b.com/laptop-pro",
      "your_price": 1299.99
    }
  ]
}

Step 2: Build Price Extraction Workflow

Set up these nodes in sequence:

• Lambda Input (competitor URLs)
• Get All Text From Link (extract page content)
• Edit Fields (extract and clean prices)
• Merge (combine all price data)
• Download as File (save results)

flowchart TD
    A[📋 Competitor List] --> B[🌐 Extract Text]
    B --> C[💰 Extract Prices]
    C --> D[📊 Compare Prices]
    D --> E{Price Changed?}
    E -->|Yes| F[🚨 Send Alert]
    E -->|No| G[📁 Save Data]
    F --> G

    style A fill:#e3f2fd
    style B fill:#e8f5e8
    style C fill:#fff3e0
    style D fill:#f3e5f5
    style F fill:#ffebee

Step 3: Configure Price Extraction

Get All Text From Link Settings:

{
  "textFilters": [".navigation", ".footer", ".reviews", ".ads"],
  "waitForLoad": true,
  "timeout": 20000
}

Edit Fields for Price Extraction:

{
  "operations": [
    {
      "field": "text",
      "operation": "extract_regex",
      "pattern": "\\$[0-9,]+\\.?[0-9]*",
      "output_field": "current_price"
    },
    {
      "field": "current_price",
      "operation": "clean_currency",
      "output_field": "price_numeric"
    }
  ]
}

✅ You should see: Clean price data for each competitor

Step 4: Set Up Price Comparison

Price Analysis Logic:

{
  "comparison_rules": [
    {
      "condition": "competitor_price < your_price * 0.95",
      "alert": "Competitor undercut by 5%+",
      "action": "immediate_alert"
    },
    {
      "condition": "competitor_price > your_price * 1.1",
      "alert": "Opportunity to raise prices",
      "action": "weekly_report"
    }
  ]
}

Step 5: Automate Monitoring Schedule

Scheduling Options:

• Hourly: For fast-moving markets
• Daily: For standard monitoring
• Weekly: For stable markets

Real-World Example

Business: Electronics retailer Monitoring: 25 laptop models across 5 competitors Frequency: Twice daily Result: 15% increase in competitive positioning

Alert Example:

🚨 Price Alert: Competitor A dropped MacBook Pro to $1,199 (was $1,299) Your price: $1,289 | Recommended action: Consider price adjustment

Advanced Features

Price History Tracking

{
  "price_history": {
    "product_id": "laptop-pro",
    "dates": ["2024-01-01", "2024-01-02"],
    "prices": [1299.99, 1249.99],
    "trend": "decreasing"
  }
}

Multi-Site Comparison

• Track same product across multiple retailers
• Identify lowest market price
• Monitor price spread and positioning

Alert Customization

• Immediate: SMS/email for significant changes
• Daily: Summary report of all changes
• Weekly: Trend analysis and recommendations

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Prices not extracted	Adjust regex pattern for site’s price format
Missing competitor data	Check if site blocks automation, try different approach
False alerts	Fine-tune price change thresholds
Slow monitoring	Optimize extraction filters and timeouts

What’s Next?

Expand your competitive intelligence with these guides:

• Extract Product Prices - Master the basics first
• Build a Price Monitoring System - Complete enterprise solution
• Create AI-Powered Content Analysis - Analyze competitor descriptions

Copy-Paste Ready Workflow

{
  "workflow": {
    "name": "Competitor Price Monitor",
    "schedule": "daily_8am",
    "nodes": [
      {
        "type": "LambdaInput",
        "config": {
          "competitors": [
            {
              "name": "Competitor A",
              "url": "https://competitor-a.com/product",
              "your_price": 299.99
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "GetAllTextFromLink",
        "config": {
          "textFilters": [".navigation", ".footer", ".ads"],
          "waitForLoad": true,
          "timeout": 20000
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "EditFields",
        "config": {
          "operations": [{
            "field": "text",
            "operation": "extract_regex",
            "pattern": "\\$[0-9,]+\\.?[0-9]*",
            "output_field": "competitor_price"
          }]
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "DownloadAsFile",
        "config": {
          "format": "csv",
          "filename": "competitor_prices_{{date}}.csv",
          "include_timestamp": true
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

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💡 Pro Tip: Start monitoring 3-5 key competitors, then expand as you refine your workflow and alert thresholds.