Establishing the price of a product or service is complicated. In fact, and according to Fortunly, 18% of small businesses fail because they do not price their products correctly. That is one reason why you should be aware of the prices of your competitors. Because if you do so, you can optimize your pricing strategy, allowing you to have the correct price on your products.     

Manually checking the prices on your competition can take a very long time. By the time you finish with this task, new price changes occur. A New York Times article stated that prices online change every hour. That proves that your company needs a price competitor software if you want your company to survive in the online world.    

Monitoring your competitor prices’ is seen as illegal by many people and companies. This lie and a few more are going to be proven false in the following paragraphs.    

Myth #1: illegal   

You probably have done this a million times. Visit one store for a specific product, check the price, then go to another one to check out the same product. In the end, you compared both prices. Did you consider this an illegal act? Or did the store owner called the cops on you because you were doing this? No, because it is 100% legal to compare prices. 86% of consumers check your competition for at least half of their purchases.    

Companies also check the prices of their competition. Have you ever wondered why the price of a bottle of water is almost identical in different supermarkets? Well, that happens because these companies keep track of the prices of their competitors. Store owners before had one employee visit a store of their competitors to check the prices. Even today, some companies still use this tactic, and that is not illegal. It is called mystery shopping, and it is one of the oldest tricks in the book.     

Now, many companies around the world use a price monitoring program to do this.   

Myth #2: This will lead to only lower my prices   

That is the most common myth about competitor price monitoring. The reality states the opposite: it is also about raising your prices. There is a big possibility that you are selling your products cheaper than your competitors if you are not monitoring their prices. Selling at a low price is not a bad thing, but sometimes your margins will be affected, and the same goes for profits.    

According to various aspects, price changes happen frequently. Market demands, low stock products, and other factors are a few examples. There are moments when it is necessary to bump your prices. Due to these opportunities, so you need to be aware of the prices of your competitors.    

Myth #3: It will damage my margins   

As we said in myth #2, competitor price monitoring is just not about lowering prices. Knowing the prices of your competitors allows you to increase the price of your products. Therefore, get larger margins.    

Occasionally, lowering the prices of your products or services can lead to an increase in your margins. Take this into consideration. It is not a linear case, and sometimes doing this can hurt your profits. Having a competitor price monitoring program can show you these opportunities, and you might be the lucky one to take it and earn more money.   

Myth #4: Products are difficult to track   

It is usual to hear that some products online are hard to monitor. That happens because the price of many of these objects depends on color, weight, and even size. But once again, people that indicate this are wrong.     

Price monitoring programs are supposed to be mistake-free when they are scrapping websites. Plus, they analyze European Article Number (EAN) codes when the products are from a European website or Universal Product Code (UPC) if they are from the United States or Latin America. Also, if the program makes a mistake in tracking a price, you can manually adjust it.    

Myth #5: These programs are expensive    

Flat-out lie. That is the only way to describe it. Luckily for many companies, there are many options to choose from regarding price competitor software. The majority of these companies offer many plans. They go from the basic level to the enterprise option, the full version.     

At PriceTweakers, we offer you the possibility to do competitor price monitoring and much more! Through a correct pricing strategy, we will help your business boost your sales and increase your margins. Follow us for more information.       

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