19 July 2007
New online pricing benchmark shows how retailers use competitors' websites in battle for leadership
A new survey benchmarks the way retailers turn competitors' websites to their advantage by shaping pricing, product and positioning policies and increase profit margins. The research, from Cogenta NetPrice, shows 87% of companies use competitors' websites in the battle for leadership. Eighty percent of the respondents handle the process in an adhoc way, by manually searching websites on just key product lines.
An increasing number, one in five, are now using an automated process to collect competitive information. These retailers use information daily and are more advanced in their systems, while those that handle the process manually check competitors' online data weekly, monthly or whenever they can, by manually trawling websites and searching for individual product prices.
Douglas Orr, CEO of Cogenta, explains, "The research shows that scouring the internet for pricing data is an obvious business tool, however, there is a lot of scope for improvement. Retailers of all sizes that want to retain or challenge leadership positions and are determined to change pricing policies, need real-time information to ensure this is enabled. In more competitive online markets, such as consumer electronics, it's becoming a prerequisite to check competitive pricing data frequently and systematically.
"There is no room for ineffective processes, however frequently you need reliable data. It's possible to gain competitive intelligence and analysis to accurately shape pricing and promotion policies, even on a daily basis if the competition is that tight."
Cogenta NetPrice tracks millions of products daily with 100% accuracy. An added benefit is that data can also show whether competitors are being given better deals by manufacturers, so customers gain reliable bargaining power to positively affect margins."
The survey also shows the percentage of the complete product range retailers check within any given month. Thirty percent of respondents check just 6% of the product range, another 30% check 6-25%, 20% check 26-50%, while 20% check more than 50%. 75% of retailers tracking 51% or more of their product line are using an automated process.
About Cogenta
Cogenta NetPrice delivers near real-time competitive information to price planners, analysts and marketeers. It tracks millions of products daily, with 100% accuracy - to keep customers ahead of the game. It provides real-time competitor price feeds, rapid competitor promotion alerts, catalogue matching and extensive reporting and analysis tools.
Cogenta provides solutions that enable commercial organisations to gather and analyse information and intelligence quickly and in depth. Solutions are based on rich search and distribution technologies developed over more than 15 years by leaders in the field of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence
Its technology drives solutions in the fields of retail intelligence, corporate research and corporate security and counter-intelligence which are used by some of the largest firms in a variety of industries, as well as the public sector.
Cogenta does not name its customers, unless specifically requested by its customers. This is because gathering commercial intelligence, like any other kind of intelligence, is a confidential activity. Its technology is designed to gather intelligence covertly, with a minimum-impact approach, to ensure the highest levels of accuracy and avoid alerting target sites to the enquiry. Similarly, it does not talk publicly about its customers.
Customers include three of the UK's top 20 retailers, and several of the world's top 100, as well as a number of major global corporations in IT, financial services and other fields.
For further press information, contact:
Kay Phelps
The PR Department for Cogenta
T: + 44 1932 789524
E:
