How Can Market Leaders Get Valuable Consumer Data

Discover how web scraping can help ecommerce businesses.

June 1, 2023

Valuable Consumer Data

Companies must constantly monitor consumer trends to stay ahead of fierce global competition. One of the best ways to get up-to-date consumer data is by scraping public information online. Gediminas Rickevičius, VP of Oxylabs, explains how it can benefit decision-making in the ecommerce business. 

The concept of a treasure hunt has likely been around for as long as people have been able to bury and conceal valuable objects. Although there is no distinct date when people became interested in searching for hidden treasure, the modern practice of organized treasure-hunting likely originated in the 19th century when Heinrich Schliemann researched and analyzed Homer’s Iliad to find the lost city of Troy in Turkey.

As technology advanced, the scope of treasure hunting expanded, and searching for treasure in previously inaccessible or unknown locations became possible, providing new insights into the world. 

Modeling consumer trends with large-scale scraping can be compared to a treasure hunt. Like a treasure hunter uses a map and a shovel to uncover hidden riches, a market researcher uses software and a database to uncover hidden insights about consumer behavior. 

Data-driven decision-making is an increasingly important part of businesses today. By staying up-to-date on what consumers are interested in, businesses can adapt their offerings to meet the needs of their target market and stay ahead of the competition. Therefore, companies can better position themselves for success by proactively anticipating consumer trends.

Monitoring Consumer Trends

Consumer trends reveal patterns and behaviors of consumers about products and services. Various factors, including changes in consumer preferences, economic conditions, and the availability of new products and technologies, can influence these trends. The researchers at McKinseyOpens a new window predict a fair share of industrial changes as well. According to them, companies who want to be at the top in 2030 must research upcoming trends and start planning for them now. 

According to the same study, to take advantage of data and analytics, companies need to select various data sources and govern them properly, build models that will provide intelligence from said data, and effectively use the insights obtained. This necessitates extensive analytics capability, often sourced externally. 

Additionally, companies need to constantly monitor consumer trends to stay ahead of the competition. This can be a daunting task, especially given the vast amount of data that is available online. Fortunately, large-scale scraping can help make this process easier and more efficient.

Businesses can monitor consumer behavior trends and decide by scraping publicly available data. Large-scale scraping is used to collect large amounts of data from the internet, which involves using specialized software to extract information from websites and other online sources. 

With these valuable insights, companies can make better decisions in their marketing strategy, product development, and customer service processes. Therefore, web scraping can be a valuable tool for businesses that want to gather data on consumer trends.

See More: Consumer Behavior Matters More Than Sales Trends

Web Scraping for Consumer Trend Modeling

As, on average, people spend almost seven hours on the internet daily, they inevitably generate enormous amounts of data about their attitudes, preferences, and behaviors as they immerse themselves in the digital world. 

According to a study on Web Scraping for Consumer ResearchOpens a new window , anyone researching  consumers might profit greatly from these digital footprints. The publicly available data offers an unrivaled view into consumer conduct, enabling researchers to assess social and usage behaviors that would otherwise be challenging to notice, document, and examine.

However, to reveal consumer trends, it is necessary to understand the mechanics and nuances of working with web-scraped data. To model consumer trends using large-scale scraping, businesses typically begin by defining what they want to analyze. It could include changes in consumer preferences, adopting new technologies, or shifts in spending habits. 

Businesses will use scraping tools to collect data from various online sources, such as ecommerce platforms, financial or news websites, etc. This data is then organized while statistical and analytical methods are used to identify and analyze trends.

Once consumer trends have been identified and analyzed, businesses can use this information to inform their decision-making and strategy and construct a consumer behavior model to anticipate future trends. For example, they may use the insights they have gained to develop new products or services, target specific segments of the market, or to adjust their marketing and advertising efforts. This can assist businesses in making better-informed judgments regarding product development, marketing strategy, and other critical business areas.

See More: 5 Digital Customer Engagement Trends Brands Should Know

Alternative Data Usefulness

A scientific publication by Johan BollenOpens a new window provides a fantastic illustration of the usefulness of auxiliary data to draw further insights (or support findings). He gathered large-scale Twitter feeds and employed technologies to automatically assign moods (such as Calm, Alert, Sure, Vital, Kind, and Happy). Then he correlated the mood to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Finally, the study discovered that Twitter moods accurately predict DJIA up/down movements by 86.7%.

Although Twitter users are not “consumers” of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, it is clear that specific signals might help us forecast economic motivations. To adjust effectively, ecommerce organizations may use web scraping and internal data collecting to uncover clues for longer-term customer trends.

Overall, alternative data collection may give valuable insights into trends and patterns that standard financial data may not reveal, enabling investors to make more educated choices and earn higher returns on their investments.

In conclusion, large-scale scraping can be a valuable tool and treasure for modeling consumer trends. Collecting and analyzing data from various online sources, including websites and ecommerce sites, can gain insights into consumer behavior and preferences and identify patterns and trends in the data. 

Businesses can then use this information to make more informed decisions about product development, marketing, and sales strategies. It can help them better understand their customers and stay ahead of changing consumer trends.

Can being proactive and anticipating consumer trends enable companies to position themselves for success? Please share your thoughts with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!

Image Source: Shutterstock

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Gediminas Rickevicius
For over 13 years, Gediminas Rickevicius has been a force of growth for leading information technology, advertising and logistics companies around the globe. He has been changing the traditional approach to business development by integrating big data into strategic decision-making. As a Vice President of Global Partnerships at Oxylabs, Gediminas continues his mission to empower businesses with state-of-art public web data-gathering solutions.
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