November 01 2007

Suck the price and see

A new software tool that automatically grabs price data from competitors' websites.

Mediahawk has launched a new tool to grab (or screen-scrape to use the correct technical term, they insist on using the word 'sucking' but that’s PRs for you) product pricing data from competitors' websites and then tabulate it into an easy-to-use online format.

Using Mediahawk's system enables any organisation to build up a price-related database showing where it sits alongside its competitors in any market sector, and which offers information about what it needs to do to make their price more competitive.

Mediahawk has trialled the system in the motor industry, where the software shows how much a particular model is priced at by retailers across the country, and also how long the cars have been in stock.

Harry Bott, Director of Mediahawk, says: "Increased access to the internet, and a range of 'comparison' sites has made the buying public more price-sensitive than ever before".

"Both online and offline retailers are constantly being told by their customers that their product is cheaper elsewhere, and in many cases they don't even get the chance of a sale, because consumers will go online and choose the best deal.  Our system enables a retailer to be able to offer the most competitive pricing on any product on any day, enabling them to capture the price-sensitive consumer market."

Most retailers have been doing this sort of thing for generations so it’s nice to see technology catching up, however the real value in the data can only be gained if you have a system that then takes the information and intelligently applies it across thousands of SKUs. To date the only company that I’ve seen that does this was Intoscape which was recently bought by SCC when it acquired website IT247.co.uk.