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Competitive intelligence on the Internet is to e-retailers what price comparison sites are to consumers: the opportunity to make a strategic choice by possessing all the knowledge of the market.
The primary issue facing e-retailers concerning competitive intelligence is that the internet is an extremely competitive market. Knowing how to adequately price products in a market, means to position oneself in one's economic environment and stay ahead of competition.
Competitive Intelligence and strategic positioning
If the transparency of a market increases the intensity of competition, what strategy can an e-retailer implement to stand out? Must the e-retailer submit himself into a price war to conquer new markets or keep his share of existing ones? To avoid getting overwhelmed in the competitive process, and be able to last in the fast paced market, the e-retailer must implement a strategy to differentiate himself from his competitors.
Carrying out a pricing policy is one of these sustainable strategies.
A pricing strategy on the internet depends on supply and demand. A sales policy is defined by the strategic positioning of the e-commerce site but also by the prices imposed by the market. For a unique product that is poorly distributed, it would be much easier to fix a price with a decent margin against a more common product. The pricing policy also includes shipping fees, a very important factor in purchasing decisions: it is very common that a user changes his mind in the middle of a purchase as soon as he sees how much shipping costs. For the other factors important to tariff policy, e-retailers must match their practices to those of their competition, and should therefore carry out continuous monitoring of prices in their respective markets.
Competitive Intelligence Tools
Numerous solutions offer a continuously comprehensive and automated watch on all products, on various chosen sites. In order to provide the clearest vision of the market, this software categorizes the data collected. Competitive intelligence solutions are presented in the form of a table where it is possible to fully visual the tendencies of a market thanks to a well defined methodology: the categorization, data classification (clustering), and analysis with text-mining and data-mining features.
A valuable aid for marketing, purchasing, and sales professionals, looking to make strategic decisions.
- Makes the job of collecting data less tedious and more comprehensive and accurate
- Automatic alerts when prices change
- Generates reports directly into excel
Example of competitive intelligence by WorkIT: WorkIT has developed an innovative tool for competitive intelligence that permits e-retailers to compare their product catalogs against those of their competitors in order to better refine their pricing strategies. This tool consists of a dashboard that includes:
- A search engine that quickly searches through items sold on the web
- Direct access to product datasheets from merchant sites
- An alert system that notifies when there are changes in value (price, shipping time, availability)
Where does the information come from? the product matching system
- Collect information directly from the e-commerce sites, just as it is seen by users
- Scan all the products on all the sites
- Updated 24h/24
- The entirety of products and accessories in the categories of: Hightech, Household Appliances, and Computers are "matched" in a catalogue and given a unique and single reference.
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