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Price Monitoring

Learn what price monitoring is, how to implement it effectively, and why it gives e‑commerce businesses a competitive edge.

What is Price Monitoring?

Price monitoring is the continuous tracking of competitors’ product prices across online stores and marketplaces. It helps you understand market positioning, detect changes quickly, and make informed decisions about your own pricing strategy.

With FastCompete, you can automatically collect, normalize, and analyze competitor prices at scale — saving time and unlocking higher margins.

How to Do Price Monitoring

A practical, repeatable workflow you can implement today.

1

Identify Competitors and Products

List key competitors and map your SKUs to matching competitor products (EAN/GTIN/MPN where possible).

2

Collect Prices Automatically

Use a tool like FastCompete to scrape and normalize prices, shipping, and availability at a cadence that fits your category dynamics.

3

Analyze Trends and Gaps

Track price evolution, detect undercutting, and segment competitors by aggressiveness and stock status.

4

Set Pricing Rules

Define guardrails (min margin, MAP), target positions (min/median/top), and exceptions by brand, category, or SKU.

5

Automate Alerts and Actions

Receive alerts on significant changes and push approved price updates to your store or ERP.

6

Review, Measure, Improve

Measure impact on margin, conversion, and Buy Box/Winning Price share. Iterate monthly.

Best Practices

  • Include shipping and promotions to compare true landed prices.
  • Group SKUs by velocity and monitor top sellers more frequently.
  • Respect MAP and brand agreements; configure rule-based exceptions.
  • Use identifiers (EAN/GTIN) to reduce mismatches and false matches.
  • Align monitoring cadence with category volatility (daily vs hourly).

Advantages of Price Monitoring

Why leading retailers make it a core capability.

Higher Margins

Avoid over-discounting and capture margin when competitors raise prices.

Sales Growth

Win more price-sensitive buyers by matching or leading the market.

Faster Reaction Time

Respond to competitor moves in hours instead of days or weeks.

Better Customer Trust

Maintain fair, transparent pricing that matches market expectations.

Ready to monitor prices like a pro?

Start a free trial and see FastCompete in action on your catalog.