5 Tasks a Web Price Crawler Solves for Online Stores

What is a Web Price Crawler

A web price crawler (or price scraper) is a tool that automatically collects data from competitors’ websites. It scrapes prices, stock availability, product descriptions, discounts, and other information essential for business decisions.

Unlike manual monitoring, which takes hours and often results in errors, scraping prices from websites works fast, reliably, and scales to thousands of SKUs. This is crucial in e-commerce, where prices can change several times a day.

Table of Contents

• What is a Web Price Crawler

• Task 1. Monitoring Competitors’ Prices

• Task 2. MAP Control and Fighting Price Dumping

• Task 3. Analyzing Assortment and Stock Availability

• Task 4. Detecting Promotions and Special Offers

• Task 5. Preparing Analytics for Dynamic Pricing

• Conclusion

Task 1. Monitoring Competitors’ Prices

The main goal is to see at what prices your competitors are selling the same or similar products.

A price scraper allows you to:

• automatically gather data from marketplaces and online stores;

• compare those prices with your own;

• identify positions where you are losing or winning on price.

Such web price scraping enables quick decisions: lower the price, keep it the same, or launch a promotion.

Task 2. MAP Control and Fighting Price Dumping

For brands and distributors, it is critical to track compliance with the Minimum Advertised Price (MAP).

A web price crawler from Price Control detects if someone is selling below the MAP and provides evidence—links and screenshots.

This allows brands to have transparent discussions with partners and protect brand reputation. 

Task 3. Analyzing Assortment and Stock Availability

A price scraping tool gathers not only prices but also stock data. You can see:

• which items competitors have in stock;

• which products they are phasing out;

• which categories they prioritize.

Such insights help with purchasing decisions and catalog planning.

Task 4. Detecting Promotions and Special Offers

Web price scraping also reveals discounts, special offers, and sales run by competitors.

This gives you the ability to:

• quickly launch your own promotions;

• understand seasonal trends and competitor strategies;

• analyze how effective promotions are in the market.

Task 5. Preparing Analytics for Dynamic Pricing

The data collected through price scraping is fuel for advanced analytics.

It enables models of dynamic pricing, where product prices change in real time depending on market conditions, demand, and competitor actions.

The Price Control service helps not only collect this data but also use it for strategic decision-making.

Conclusion

A web price crawler solves multiple business tasks—from competitor price monitoring to preparing analytics for dynamic pricing.

With it, a business gains:

• full market visibility;

• protection against price dumping;

• understanding of competitors’ assortment;

• timely reaction to promotions.

Most importantly, it provides a tool for confident growth and competitive advantage.

The price scraper from Price Control automates the process and allows businesses to focus on what matters most—growth and development.