In our last blog post we gave you an introduction to the world of monitoring. This week we're going to focus on competitor price monitoring, which is a great way of maintaining a competitive advantage online.
Competitive analysis should be an ongoing practise of all ecommerce businesses operating in competitive markets. Now that online price monitoring is so simple to do, there is no reason not to include it.
'Competitive Jewellery' (not real!) launched only six months ago. They sell low-mid range priced branded jewellery through an ecommerce store. They operate in a very competitive market, and have come to realise that they are going to struggle to survive unless they have a way of capturing the customer's attention as soon as they come online. They are doing ongoing SEO, but stand little chance of making it to page 1 anytime soon.
So they decide to do some research and stumble across an up and coming trend in the world of ecommerce - competitor price monitoring. They see this is as something which can potentially give them a chance to compete with the well established players in the market becasue we all know the first thing people do when they go to buy something online is hunt around for the best prices. If they are able to continuosly offer the best prices, then people will return to them, and they will build their brand as a result.
So how exactly does competitor price monitoring help Competitive Jewellery stay competitive?
Competitive analysis should be an ongoing practise of all ecommerce businesses operating in competitive markets. Now that online price monitoring is so simple to do, there is no reason not to include it.
'Competitive Jewellery' (not real!) launched only six months ago. They sell low-mid range priced branded jewellery through an ecommerce store. They operate in a very competitive market, and have come to realise that they are going to struggle to survive unless they have a way of capturing the customer's attention as soon as they come online. They are doing ongoing SEO, but stand little chance of making it to page 1 anytime soon.
So they decide to do some research and stumble across an up and coming trend in the world of ecommerce - competitor price monitoring. They see this is as something which can potentially give them a chance to compete with the well established players in the market becasue we all know the first thing people do when they go to buy something online is hunt around for the best prices. If they are able to continuosly offer the best prices, then people will return to them, and they will build their brand as a result.
So how exactly does competitor price monitoring help Competitive Jewellery stay competitive?
Optimal Pricing - it ensures they always have their prices set competitively. They never have to worry about pricing too high or underselling too much. Anytime their competitors are out of stock of a certain product, they can jump right onto this and capitalise, whereas in the past they would have probably realised too late.
Competitive Intelligence - once they start using online price monitoring, they soon notice interesting trends. Prices of certain product ranges will drop across the border for no apparent reason. In the past it would take them a while to realise this.
If your current situation is nothing like the one in the example then this doesn't mean competitor monitoring is not for you. It can help businesses of all sizes and in all markets gain and maintain a competitive edge. If nothing else, the information is simply very interesting to know, and spotting trends will help you learn more about your competitors.
This is only really scratching the surface with what competitor price monitoring can do for businesses, so leave a comment if you want to talk to us about it. We're passionate about it because we know how much use it can be and we really see it becoming widespread. The problem right now is that no one really knows you can even do it.. although I guess in the eyes of those that currently use it they want it to stay that way!
Will this become common practise for ecommerce websites, and end up simply pushing profit margins down for businesses? Who knows. Maybe, but it will take some time. And the fact of the matter is, right now not many businesses do monitor competitors, so there's no better time to start than now.
This is only really scratching the surface with what competitor price monitoring can do for businesses, so leave a comment if you want to talk to us about it. We're passionate about it because we know how much use it can be and we really see it becoming widespread. The problem right now is that no one really knows you can even do it.. although I guess in the eyes of those that currently use it they want it to stay that way!
Will this become common practise for ecommerce websites, and end up simply pushing profit margins down for businesses? Who knows. Maybe, but it will take some time. And the fact of the matter is, right now not many businesses do monitor competitors, so there's no better time to start than now.
