Price tracking with ease: how price change reports and alerts help you stay ahead of the game

As a business owner, staying ahead of your competition might feel like a daunting task. There are so many things to consider; where do you even start?
Take a deep breath. One of the most straightforward factors that influence a competitive edge is pricing. Undercutting the opposition, introducing a higher quality product or service to add value, and so on. Keeping tabs on your competitors’ prices and adjusting yours to match is crucial to modern business. However, with so many competitors and products to track, it might quickly become overwhelming.
That’s where price change reports and alerts come into play. In this article, we’ll explore how you can use these tools to your advantage

What are price change reports?

Price change reports briefly summarize your competitors’ products or services. Tracking these prices using these reports gives you firm data to adjust your pricing strategy accordingly. This can help you attract more customers and increase your profits over time.
There are two ways to generate price change reports: manual and automatic.

• Manual reports are typically created using web scraping tools. These tools extract data from websites and compile it into a report when the user requests it. This process requires some expertise in web scraping, but it can be customized to fit your specific needs.
• Automatic reports may also be generated through web-scraping software. Automatic updates and reports get delivered to your inbox whenever there are changes in competitor pricing. This type of report is ideal for businesses that want to stay current on market trends without investing much time or resources.

Advantages of price change reports for businesses

Price change reports can help your business in several ways. Here are three of the most apparent advantages of price change reports:

• Beating the competition: Price change reports help you monitor competitors’ prices. Using this information, you might adjust yours. For example, if you notice that your competitor has lowered their prices, you can either match their prices or offer a better deal to your customers.
• Trend identification: Price change reports are a brilliant way to identify certain market trends. For instance, they might reveal that several competitors are lowering their prices. This may indicate that the demand for the product is decreasing or that the competition no longer believes in the product’s longevity.
• Improve customer relationships: Price change reports may reveal how price changes influence customer loyalty. For example, do customers continue to buy from a brand even if a competitor has lower prices? With a better understanding of your customer base, you’ll be better suited to meet their needs.

What are price change alerts?

Price change alerts are generated by software that continuously monitors the prices of your competitors’ products and sends you updates whenever there are changes. Depending on your preferences, these software-generated alerts are usually sent via email, SMS, direct notifications, or other means.
A price change alert setup is vital in a manual pricing strategy adjustment system and one of the cheapest possible approaches you can set up. If appropriately implemented, its return on investment should be extremely high.

How can price change alerts help your business?

Price change alerts can help your business in several ways, bringing many advantages:

• Real-time competitor pricing updates: Price change alerts help you stay ahead by providing real-time updates on your competitors’ prices. For example, if you receive an alert that your competitor has lowered their prices, it’s a good idea to adjust your own immediately.
• Market insights: Price change alerts contribute to your understanding of the market. Minor adjustments in competitor prices might not matter, but if their listings suddenly double or halve in value, you should quickly investigate why that’s the case.
• Price monitoring automation: Price change alerts can help you save time by automating the price monitoring process. Instead of manually checking your competitors’ prices, you can rely on price change alerts to keep you informed. Of course, these aren’t as efficient as AI-controlled dynamic pricing, but they’re still far less time-consuming than a manual process.

Implementing price change reports and alerts

Price change reports and alerts are, thankfully, a relatively straightforward, low-budget way to take your first steps into the world of price monitoring and adjustment. They’re effective for building your way up toward dynamic pricing and repricing strategies.
Consider implementing them as part of your journey. These tools might be all you need if you’re a relatively small organization. However, if you’re a larger enterprise or plan to scale up, use them as a stepping stone as you construct a grander price monitoring.