In recent years, we have observed an ongoing shift in the dynamics between e-commerce business and price intelligence technology. Brands and Retailers have enjoyed increasing access to more powerful analytical solutions, giving them greater granular control over their online performance.

As a result, online businesses have a stronger voice than ever, drawing a new picture of e-commerce and the whole market. For instance, we observe that Brands are constantly gaining influence over their product line. They are not just manufacturers but price makers, game changers demanding more control over product performance in e-stores or marketplaces, like Amazon.

What drives the price intelligence evolution?

We can see clearly that advances in data technology have improved computing, decision making, and analysis of large datasets that seem to grow every day in size and quantity. Recently, we are also seeing more digital professionals who are familiar and comfortable with data processing technology. Furthermore, they require the use of advanced technological solutions and refuse to work in the analog world.
In this way, data science has contributed to the data extraction solutions, including price intelligence, that we see today.

Many companies have been collecting data in their systems for a long time, but to make data more digestible for analytics, it had required advanced technology. 

Nowadays, powerful data processing tools and easy-to-use APIs make this access easy. The advantage of SaaS technology lies in the immediate access to data streams without the need for complex back-end infrastructure. 

Brands and Retailers have a heightened level of examination of their market position. They have higher expectations demanding information, not just about prices but also the online environment around them. Managers who embrace the pricing intelligence tools are more likely to achieve impressive results and seize opportunities to improve their KPIs and current market position.
However, not everything shines bright.

Price intelligence in a competitive world

Today, e-commerce is more competitive than ever. This vast menu of competitive activities is forcing Brands and Retailers to really compete for the attention of buyers.

Data is crucial to control competitive activities
and win customers’ attention on the road to their trust and loyalty

Again, as customers demand more product information, the companies that respond best to this will have a greater chance to record successful and long-term relationships. It means that access to data is crucial to control competitive activities and win customers’ attention on the road to their trust and loyalty.

Today, companies can ask more specific questions about the results of their online performance or reasons for underperformance. And when looking for new customers, greater access to data makes it easier to target them and exclude those who do not meet the criteria specified for the preferred target group. But many businesses are still manually collecting critical data – and it is not the right decision!

Data extraction tools can practically eliminate data compilation and aggregation labor so that analysts can do real analytical work and provide timely insights. This need is becoming increasingly important as the complexity of data grows and the number of data sources increases. And we see that the consumption of large amounts of data is still a vital topic. Without price intelligent solutions, e-commerce simply cannot analyse the large datasets required to gain the valuable insights they need to make better decisions. 

The accuracy nature of data science technology, like price intelligence, is invaluable in this matter. Price intelligence software requires you to click a few buttons to understand customer expectations and behaviors. For easier decision-making, rather than writing reports on your own, the price intelligence tool allows analysts to paint a clear and concise picture of the current position of the brand or retailer, showing different scenarios and preferred time frames based on their needs. If you like to ask some common questions like what happens if a competitive price drops 1%, the answer comes immediately. It is powerful because it allows you to build a strong pricing strategy and control market behavior without wasting additional time.

We have no doubts that the use of data extraction technology will increase significantly in the coming years. Most companies know they need to include price intelligence to stay ahead of the curve. Importantly, we are sure that artificial intelligence and machine learning rapid development will speed up this process. Data mining technology helps extract data effectively, and this is the undeniable fact that price intelligence offers e-commerce companies.

---