Thanks to technology, more and more people are shopping online. They take their time, compare prices, and always try to find the best deal. That’s where tools like competitive intelligence platforms come in – they help businesses make smarter choices about their prices.
As more people start shopping online thanks to the internet and smartphones, businesses need to step up their game. And with COVID-19 pushing even more people to shop from home, it’s never been more important to understand what your competition is doing. So let’s look at how competitive intelligence platforms help businesses attract more customers.
What do competitive intelligence platforms do?
These platforms help businesses see what prices their competition is offering. Then they can decide if they need to change their own prices. The best tools are quick, accurate, and easy to use.
These platforms are super useful for shops. When businesses decide their prices based on what other businesses are doing, they depend on knowing what their competition’s prices are. And these tools help them do just that. They use Artificial Technology and Machine Learning to find differences in prices for the same products across different businesses.
How to use competitive intelligence platforms
When used right, competitive intelligence platform can be a game-changer. But you need to know how they work. To make the most of these platforms, businesses need to collect data and compare it with what their competition is doing. This can lead to insights that help them make smarter pricing decisions.
First, businesses need to find the right data sources. This means figuring out which competitors have an impact on their prices and which don’t. Then they need to collect data on things like product images, titles, measurements, and descriptions. Once they have this data, they need to make sure it fits with their business goals and pricing models.
These platforms work with lots of data and can provide helpful insights. They can use Machine Learning to understand what the competition is doing with their prices. From this data, businesses can:
- Identify which competitors are affecting their prices.
- Decide on the best prices for their products.
- Give their team insights that can help boost sales.
These tools are essential for businesses, especially ones that base their prices on what their competition is doing.
Choosing the right tool
Like any business strategy, it’s important to choose the right tool and know how to use it. When choosing a competitive intelligence platform, businesses should focus on four areas:
- Data Quality: These platforms work with a lot of data. So it’s important to make sure the data is accurate. Usually, businesses can check this by looking at the data accuracy rate. Anything below 90 percent isn’t good enough.
- Reading the SLA: Before buying a platform or working with a company that provides one, it’s a good idea to check out things like quality, delivery, accuracy, and customer support. Also, knowing the legal agreement can help businesses understand the pros and cons.
- User-Friendly: A tool that’s hard to use isn’t very helpful. The whole point of these platforms is to help businesses make sense of a lot of data. So, businesses need to check how easy it is to use the platform.
- Boost Profits: The platform should help increase profits. But to do this, it needs to fit in with the business’s pricing strategy. So, when choosing a platform, businesses need to check if it works with their main pricing strategy.
If businesses follow these guidelines, they’re more likely to choose the right platform.
Why businesses need competitive intelligence platforms
According to Statista, about 2 billion people shopped online in 2020, spending over $4.2 trillion. With numbers like these, competitive intelligence platforms can help businesses get a piece of that action.
Every business can benefit from these platforms. As more people shop online, these tools are more important than ever. They help businesses understand the market, what their competition is doing, and what customers want. This can help them keep customers coming back and attract new ones.
The bottom line
Competitive intelligence platforms are here to stay, and they can help businesses a lot. But it’s important to remember why they’re needed and how to choose the right one. Data quality is key – if the data isn’t good, the results won’t be either, and this could hurt the business. By keeping these things in mind and aligning with the business’s goals and pricing strategy, these platforms can provide useful insights into the competition and help increase profits.
With over a decade in the tech field, Bogdan blends technical expertise with insights on business innovation in technology.
A regular contributor to TMS Outsource's blog, where you'll find sharp analyses on software development, tech business strategies, and global tech dynamics.
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