Price monitoring in the Fashion & Apparel industry
- 16 February 2021
In this article, you will find tips on how to use price tracking software in the Fashion & apparel industry. You will find insights for online shops that want to stay competitive in this market.
We will cover the following topics:
- What are the characteristics of the fashion & apparel market?
- What are the challenges related to price monitoring and dynamic pricing (repricing)?
- Which functionalities and reports provided in the price tracking tool are crucial?
- How to start monitoring prices systematically?
1. What are the characteristics of the fashion & apparel market?
The fashion & apparel sector includes stores that sell such products as:
- Clothing
- Shoes
- Bags & Accessories
What is characteristic of this market?
- The fashion and apparel market is the most popular e-commerce industry. It is expected that in 2025 the sales will amount to $1003.5 billion.
- However, because of the COVID pandemic, consumers are spending less on clothing and footwear. On average, 51% of customers declared having decreased their spending on fashion and apparel products because of the coronavirus. In some countries, this percentage was even higher (e.g. 70% in Spain or 65% in Italy).
- Online sales are gaining importance – customers are changing their buying habits and are planning to shop online more frequently after the COVID-19.
- Customers are browsing online not only to shop, but also to look for fashion inspiration – as much as 35% of consumers do it at least once per week.
- Fashion is constantly evolving. Fashion trends change very frequently which means that online stores have to be competitive not to end up being stocked with products which are not popular anymore.
The challenge which many companies face when tracking prices of fashion & apparel products are different sizes of products (e.g. XS, S, M or different shoes sizes). To truly understand how the situation on the market looks like (especially when it comes to the availability of different products), it is crucial to have such information. With the proper software for price monitoring, it shouldn’t be a problem though – then every different size can be treated separately.
As we mentioned above, online sales have a big importance in the fashion & apparel sector which is a trend that many companies operating in this segment have to adapt to. And what is the most important factor for customers when they buy online? As several researches show, price is the most relevant factor for customers when purchasing online.
It means that an online shop that wants to be popular amongst customers should offer competitive prices. Without a price monitoring tool, it is almost impossible to track all the offered SKUs in all the relevant channels every day. With price tracking software, you can have a short glimpse on the panel every day. You can choose competitors which you want to compare to and check your shop’s ranking (position) in comparison to them:
Other relevant information displayed is about opportunities for profit increase or important changes in the market. In order to always be up to date, you can receive such insights in e-mail alerts as well.
The second functionality which is often used is dynamic pricing (repricing). It gives you a possibility to change the price in the online shop according to the current market position. How does it work? You set customized rules according to which the prices in your shop should be changed. It can include such rules as “being the cheapest on Google Shopping”, “being cheaper than the average on the market” provided specific conditions (e.g. minimum profit margin). Thanks to that, you can automate your pricing without additional manual work and time needed. If you have seen competitors being always 5 cents below your price – it is very probable that they use such rules for their pricing.
3. Which functionalities and reports provided in the price tracking tool are crucial?
What is relevant when looking for a price monitoring & repricing software?
- Clear market overview – price monitoring tool should enable you not only to check your position on the market but also to identify the most relevant competitors. In the Dealavo tool, you can see your position on the market in regard to every single product and see how many other online shops offer it. You can also easily see which products you have in common with each of the competitors.
- All data integrated in one place – thanks to having the data from all the platforms in one panel, you can understand the situation with one glimpse only.
- Data displayed in charts – there is no easier way to see a trend than looking at a chart. That’s why at Dealavo we try to visualize the data in very intuitive way – with charts including information about different competitors’ prices in a specified time range
- Dynamic Pricing – to react quickly, it is recommended to implement dynamic pricing based on customizable conditions. Some shops use different rules depending on the channel or country – with Dealavo software it is not a problem.
- E-mail alerts – to be always up to date with relevant changes in the market, you should make sure you can receive e-mail notifications every time there is an important price increase / decrease in the market, or when there is an opportunity to increase your price etc. With Dealavo, you can choose when exactly you want to receive such an e-mail (e.g. when the prices decrease more than 15%).
- Different variants tracking – sometimes it is important to take into account different sizes of the products. In the fashion & apparel segment it is a common challenge, but with such tools as Dealavo, you can see each size separately.
- API integration – to implement data from the tool to your system, API integration is crucial – especially if you monitor hundreds or thousands of products. With Dealavo, you always get an API.
- Data available in csv – for data analysis, it can be important to have data in csv format as well. Dealavo offers it for all of the clients.
- Availability information – it happens that your competitors offer products at very low prices, but then it turns out that they are not available. It can even happen that even though there are several listed offers, you are the only shop that actually has the product. It is crucial to have availability information in the tool.
- Frequency of the updates – to react fast, you need frequent updates. At Dealavo, we can offer you to refresh information even every 15 minutes.
4. How to start monitoring prices systematically?
Once you decide price monitoring and repricing are crucial, here are the next steps you should follow:
- Fill the contact form to have a call during which we could understand your needs and discuss how we can help.
- See the demo of Dealavo price monitoring tool
- Choose the products you would like to monitor
- Choose the websites you would like to track prices on – these can be marketplaces, price comparison websites or online shops
- Our team will do the rest!
Learn more about price tracking in the other industries: