Brands: how to better control your Digital Shelf with online monitoring?

What is the Digital Shelf?

The Digital Shelf is the online equivalent of the shelves in physical stores.

It's the place where customers search, discover and buy products online, whether it's on the retailer's website or mobile app, or on another retailer's website or marketplace.

Just like in a physical store, customers want to be able to access well-stocked shelves, while remaining clear and organized enough, and have the information they need to make a purchase with confidence.

The digital shelf should allow customers to search for information about a product. Search results pages and product category pages are entry points for online customers and should contain a lot of information: images, videos, description, pricing, availability, variants and options, ratings, and customer reviews. The pages of each product should also provide all these information.

Supermarkets and brick-and-mortar stores have mastered the art of creating a quality in-store shopping experience. Thanks to merchandising, they know how to create attractive window displays, highlight leader products or promotions aisle head display offers, arrange the shelves in such a way as to highlight products with higher margins, offer a fluid in-store experience to the consumer and encourage them to buy by creating pre-defined universes and consumer journeys. They also offer impulse purchases near the checkouts, and offer immediate assistance on the shelves thanks to salespeople who are available for any questions.

Online, customers are looking for a similar experience: they want to easily find the product they are looking for using categories, keywords, etc., to get detailed information about each product, to have access to useful usage tips, recommendations and reviews from other consumers to be reassured about their choice, they also want to be directed to other similar products or additonal ...

The Digital Shelf: more and more points of contact

The digital shelf include all the touchpoints that consumers use to research, evaluate, and compare a product with other brands, and then make a purchase. With the development of digital technology, these touchpoints are multiplying, making the consumer buying journey increasingly complex. To manage this digital space well, it is crucial to ensure that products are easy to find, well presented, and accompanied by all the necessary information to encourage purchase.

Online monitoring, an essential tool for mastering your
digital shelf

Online monitoring consists of systematically monitoring how your products are presented on your retailers' sites, on marketplaces and on the sites of other unknown retailers. This includes price monitoring (tracking prices, promotions, price changes), the way your SKUs are presented on product sheets (images used, description, presentation) as well as monitoring market trends, monitoring competitor SKUs, customer reviews and ratings on your products, and the promotional activities of other brands. The goal is to collect relevant data to adjust your online distribution strategy and stay competitive.

Online monitoring is particularly important for:

Monitor the competition: Observing competitors' strategies, their prices, promotions, and how they present their products can provide valuable insights to adjust one's own strategy
Adjust Prices: Stay competitive by adapting prices in real-time.
Identify Opportunities: Detect opportune times to launch promotions or discounts.
Adapt Quickly: React quickly to price changes and new offers from competitors.

For effective price intelligence, companies use price intelligence software such as Price Observatory that aggregates this data in real time via scraping technologies and APIs to extract data directly from competing websites.

Competitive intelligence is not limited to price monitoring, other factors are also important to master your Digital Shelf.

Reputation management: Tracking customer reviews and feedback helps to react quickly to negative reviews and improve customer satisfaction.
SEO optimization: Online intelligence helps to understand which keywords and phrases are most searched for by consumers, which helps optimize content to improve search engine optimization (SEO).

Essential online monitoring tools to master your Digital Shelf

To carry out effective online monitoring, brands can use various technological tools:

Google Alerts: To receive notifications about brand or product mentions.
Hootsuite: To manage and monitor social networks.
Semrush: To analyze competitors' SEO and content strategies.
Brandwatch: For an in-depth analysis of social media mentions and sentiments.
Price Observatory: To monitor prices, reviews, promos, stock on various e-commerce platforms (e-commerce sites and marketplaces)

Putting it into practice

Step 1: Define Intelligence Objectives
Identify the aspects of the Digital Shelf that you want to improve, such as product visibility, access to offers, content quality, pricing, or reputation management.
Step 2: Choose the Right Tools
Select the monitoring tools that fit your goals and budget.
Step 3: Collect and Analyze Data
Set up regular alerts and reports to monitor relevant information. Analyze this data to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.
Step 4: Implement Corrective Actions
Make the necessary changes to your digital shelf strategy based on insights gained from online monitoring.
Step 5: Evaluate Results
Measure the impact of the changes made and adjust your strategy accordingly for continuous improvement.

Conclusion

Mastering your Digital Shelf is essential for brands that want to succeed in today's competitive digital landscape. Online intelligence provides an effective way to monitor and optimize the various aspects of the digital presence of products. By taking a proactive approach and using the right tools, brands can improve their visibility, attract more customers, and ultimately increase sales. For personalized advice on the pricing of your products, do not hesitate to contact our team of experts on Price Observatory website. Contact us for a demo, a real-world test or information

5 Tips for Choosing Your Price Monitoring Software

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, staying ahead of your competitors' trends and movements is key to staying competitive. Competitive intelligence, as a strategic practice, requires appropriate tools to collect, analyze, and interpret relevant data. However, choosing the right tool can prove to be a challenge in itself. Here are five key tips to guide you in choosing your competitive intelligence and price intelligence tool for e-commerce.

1. Define your specific needs

Before you start your search, it's important to clearly define your specific competitive intelligence needs. This step will help you narrow down your search and choose a tool that precisely meets your needs.

A. What objectives do you want to meet with this tool ?

Increase your sales
Better adjust your margins
Identify products on which you can increase prices
Perform automatic repricing
Automatically monitor your competitors' prices and promotions
Identify in real time which offers are becoming cheaper than yours
Monitor your competitors' stock and stock-outs.
Know who sells the same products as you on the Marketplaces and who owns the Buy Box
Identify market opportunities by spotting your competitors' new brands
Have management and decision-making tools
Target your Google Ads ads to the products where you rank best

B. What types of products do you want to track ?

New products with EAN or Unique Reference codes
New products without EAN codes or Unique Reference
Products identical to yours
Products similar to yours
Second-hand or second-hand products
Private labels
Services (car rental, ski rental, travel agency, etc.)
Product variations by colour, size for example
Sales & Bundles , Bundles, Packs

C. What types of data do you want to collect ?

Price
Shipping costs
Promotions
Stock
Catalog, brands, products
Market Trends & Pricing Policy
Marketing strategy
Product Ratings & Reviews
Seller Ratings

D. What types of sites do you want to monitor ?

Competing e-commerce sites
Marketplaces to keep track of all sellers who sell the same products as you
French or multi-country sites only

E. Who will use the tool and how?

E-commerce Manager, Webmarketing Manager, Key Account Manager, Marketing Director, Sales Director, Executive...
Daily and in-depth online consultation (project referent)
Viewing the Chrome extension only
Viewing email alerts and exports only
Consultation of BI analysis for all countries

F. How will the tool interface with your existing systems ?

Do you need to retrieve data via an API to leverage it in your system?
What software/systems (e-commerce site/ERP/PIM) does the tool need to interface with?

G. What features are a must-have for your business?

Data brute
Custom BI analysis
Configurable e-mail alerts
Dynamic Pricing or automatic Repricing tool that will offer you the best prices for your products based on your margin and your competitors' prices
Programmable Data Exports
Chrome extension gives you access to competitors' prices while browsing your merchant site
Price and stock history
Tailored features for your business

To help you define your needs and think of all the useful features:
Discover the benefits of Price Observatory for Retailer s
Check out the Features for Retailers brochu re

2. Assess the reliability and accuracy of the Data

Make sure that the tool you are considering offers comprehensive coverage of data relevant to your industry. Check the frequency of data updates (daily), the reliability of the data, and the accuracy of the information provided

A. Reliability of the data

Above all, a competitive intelligence tool must provide reliable, easily verifiable and verified data. For this, the accuracy of the algorithms is essential. Various control phases must also be carried out to ensure the validity of the data collected. Human control is also essential for all collated data that is not matched by EAN code or unique reference.

B. Frequency of surveys

The tool must also be able to collect daily or even real-time data. Make sure that the tool provides daily price readings and that you can refresh the data at any time in 1 click.

C. Accuracy of the data

Make sure the data is accurate. In particular, check that:

postage and delivery costs are collected
The dates of price changes are specified
Stocks are well harvested
Promotions and strikethrough prices are returned
the packaging is specified
Bundles and bundles are well differentiated
product combinations can be processed separately
Specific product attributes can be searched and displayed

D. Test the tool in real-world conditions

The best way to ensure the reliability and quality of the data and free test

The Price Observatory software offers free 1-day tests in real-world conditions. Contact us for more information

3. Investigate how to access data

Make sure the tool offers a variety of convenient ways to read and use data :

A user-friendly and customizable interface
An automatic repricing feature that recalculates new prices based on rules you set and automatically sends them to your merchant site
Advanced filtering capabilities to help you get the relevant data efficiently.
Accurate and varied analysis to make informed decisions
An API to retrieve data from your system
A chrome extension to have access to the main data when browsing your merchant site
Configurable programmable email alerts and exports

4. Consider Scalability and Integration

Your business may evolve over time, and your competitive intelligence needs may also change.

Choose a tool that is scalable and able to scale as your business grows.

Is the software publisher open to specific development and to adapt to the needs of its customers or is it more in a mass logic?

Additionally, make sure the tool can easily integrate with other tools and platforms you already use, such as your inventory management system or e-commerce platform.

5. Evaluate customer support and value for money

Finally, don't underestimate the importance of customer support and value for money.

Opt for a provider that offers responsive and knowledgeable customer support to help you with any issues or questions.

Additionally, carefully evaluate the cost of the tool in relation to its features and the value it brings to your business. A competitive intelligence tool can be a valuable investment, but it needs to offer value for money to be profitable in the long run.

In conclusion

In conclusion, choosing the right e-commerce competitive intelligence tool is essential to stay competitive in the market. By following these five key tips, you'll be able to select a tool that perfectly meets your needs and helps you make informed strategic decisions for your business.

For personalized advice on the pricing of your products, do not hesitate to contact our team of experts on our Price Observatory website. Contact us for a demo, a real-life test or information

The 10 Pricing Rules Every Brand Should Know

As a manufacturer, it's up to you to set the prices of your products and your MAP Policy (minimum advertised price) This decision is crucial, as it directly affects your profitability, competitiveness, and market position. That's why understanding the fundamentals of pricing is essential to thriving in a dynamic and competitive business environment. Here are the 10 pricing rules all brands should know

1. Know your market

Before you set your prices, understand your market, your competitors, and consumer expectations. Analyze your competitors' trends, buying behaviors, and prices to define an effective pricing strategy. Price Observatory gives you access to the price trends of your market, the evolution of price changes by periods, seasons, years. All the prices in your market are logged over 2 years.

2. Identify Perceived Value

Customers pay for the perceived value of your products, not just their production costs. Identify the unique features of your products and communicate them in a way that makes consumers understand their superior value. Detail these features in your product descriptions and make sure your distributors use the right texts.

Pay special attention to photos of your products to increase their perceived value. In the same way, make sure that your resellers use the most up-to-date images of your products.

Price Observatory allows you to check with one click that all your resellers are up to date in the images and texts you have defined for your brand.

3. Establish your financial goals

Be clear about your financial goals, whether it's in terms of margin, market share, or profits. Your prices should be aligned with these goals to ensure thelong-term profitability of your business. Repricing tools must take into account these financial objectives, including margin targets.

4. Adopt a Dynamic Pricing Strategy

Don't set your prices statically. Take a dynamic approach by adjusting your prices based on market fluctuations, competitors, seasons, and promotional events to maximize revenue. Our data collection tools can allow you to track trends in price changes in your market. You can also use this data to inject it into your internal or outsourced tools to determine the best prices for your products through a system of rules or AI.

5. Be Flexible

Offer different options (prices, packs, combinations, etc.) to meet the varied needs and budgets of your customers. This will allow you to reach a wider audience and increase your sales (decreasing prices according to quantity, Bundle, Pack, Lots, Promo, Variation of the same product, etc.).

The Price Observatory tool allows you to automatically collect prices, promotions, strikethrough prices but also decreasing prices, product combinations and batch sales from your distributors and competitors in order to compare your data with theirs.

6. Keep an Eye on Your Competitors

Set up a price watch of your competitors' prices and adjust yours accordingly. Being aware of market movements will allow you to stay competitive and maximize your market share. The features offered by Price Observatory allow automatic monitoring of product references from other brands equivalent to yours. Price Observatory also allows you to track the prices, promotions and stock of private labels.

7. Control Your Distribution Network and your MAP Policy

Check that your resellers are complying with your MAP policy with email alert tools that notify you in real time when a reseller sells below your floor price or when your products are out of stock, for example.
Check that the holding agreements are respected by your resellers (number of references and brands highlighted for example).
Automatically monitor your resellers' prices and promotions
Note the aggressiveness of your distributors (which retailer is driving the market down) and identify non-partner sellers and new players on marketplaces such as Google Shopping or Amazon. Determine who owns the Buy Box.
Track your resellers' stock and product availability to encourage orders and avoid stock-outs.
Check that your products are properly highlighted (do your retailers use the right images, descriptions, etc.)
Manage customer ratings and reviews of your products (should you consider product development or is it a usability issue you can address)
Track price variability
Keep track of your distributors' prices by period, season and year

All of these features are available in our Price Observatory price intelligence tool.
See information for brands and manufacturers.
View feature documentation for brands and manufacturers here

Having a real-time view of the prices, promotions and stock of your distribution network is essential to enforce your MAP policy and knowing how your products are evaluated is also essential to avoid bad buzz and sales drops.

8. Don't Underestimate the Psychological Effects of Pricing

Prices have an emotional impact on consumers. Use psychological pricing techniquessuch as high prices, fair prices, "charming" prices (e.g. €9.99 instead of €10), and bundles to influence buying behavior. A high price is automatically associated with a notion of value and scarcity. However, all of this is purely psychological. For example, everyone believes that diamonds are expensive because they are rare. Diamonds are now among the most common gemstones on earth, yet they are the most expensive gemstones.

9. Offer Purchase Incentives

Use promotions, discounts, and loyalty programs to encourage customers to buy your products. Special offers can boost sales and strengthen the relationship with your customers. Always set an expiry date for your promotions and emphasize the rarity and exceptional nature of your offers in order to encourage people to take action by creating the fear of missing out on a good deal

10. Continuously Evaluate and Adjust

Pricing is an ongoing process. Monitor your pricing performance, collect customer feedback, and adjust your strategy accordingly to stay competitive and profitable. Price Observatory's monitoring tools and BI analytics will allow you to generate accurate reports on each pricing action. Customizable dashboards are essential indicators for Key Account Managers (KAMs), Web Marketing Managers and E-commerce Managers.

By following these 10 pricing rules, and with our monitoring tools, you will be able to maximize your revenue, strengthen your position in the market and ensure the long-term success of your brand.