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July 04 2008
Automatic mystery shopping
Online retailers offered automated competitive analysis which should put an end to labour-intensive ‘mystery shopping’
A competitive analysis tool allowing online retailers to automatically analyse and monitor pricing across thousands of competitor products is now available as a standalone software solution from Total Commerce Management (TCM). Intoscape CIC Competitor Intelligence Console (CIC) enables retailers to radically improve their approach to competitive analysis by using the data it gathers to proactively adjust the most appropriate pricing levels for market conditions.
Intoscape CIC is targeted at a broad spectrum of online retailers, and gathers information on competitor pricing, targeting named competitor sites and allowing the user to quickly and accurately position their own pricing as market conditions change. In effect, Intoscape CIC removes the need for merchandisers to carry out time consuming ‘mystery shopping’ on their competitors, freeing staff to focus on applying the competitor intelligence itself, rather than gathering it.
Intoscape CIC provides a simple desktop application interface enabling users to access and compare competitor data from multiple sites, side-by-side. It also provides visual alerts when the structure of target sites change causing data to become inaccurate.. With monitoring and reporting in place, Intoscape CIC users can build specific queries which are repeatable and customisable, so decision-making is fast and accurate.
“In trying to carry out competitive analysis, most online retailers are running just to stand still,” explained Steve Willock, Managing Director of Total Commerce Management. “Most do not have the levels of insight required in such a dynamic environment to monitor what rivals are doing with their products and invest heavily in staff time to fill in the gaps as best they can. Intoscape CIC signals an end to this ‘mystery shopping’ and puts the retailer in proactive control of their pricing policies.”
It delivers the most sophisticated and effective data capture technology available today, allowing users to gain new levels of insight into competitor pricing. This data can then be integrated with business rules and policies to determine price levels for the users’ own product lines, based around informed decisions on margins, stock levels, special promotional activity, etc.
Intoscape CIC is available now, and is offered in a range of modules and price options.
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