19 Mar 11 ways to collect product data from Amazon without coding
Do you need to collect product data on Amazon? It can be a potential goldmine for your e-commerce enterprise. And it can be easier and cheaper than you might think.
In this article, we go through what kind of data from amazon that you can collect, and what it could mean for your online business to extract it.
We will also share 11 ways that you easily can obtain product the product data that can help take your firm to the next level
What are the product parameters
There are 14 different 14 parameters that you can extract from Amazon that can help you understand the four areas (competitor surveillance, price comparison, product inspiration & customer preferences):
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- Competitor surveillance: Who is selling the same products as you are on the same markets?
- Price comparison: What prices are the competitors selling at?
- Product inspiration: What new products on the market could be of interest for you to sell?
- Customer preferences: Know from reviews and top seller lists what the customers think of the products on the market.
What is Amazon product data and why would you collect it
If you are an e-commerce business then there are several good reasons why Amazon data can help grow your company.
- Product name: The product name helps you identify if you have found the right product that you are looking for.
- The product SKU: If you need Amazon product data as a part of a price monitoring service, then you would look for SKU number to make sure you have an exact match on the products you find on Amazon and the products you stock in your company
- Product Price: The product price is almost always entering. If you collect Amazon product data. Since you have an interest in knowing what your competitors are selling their products at.
- Product description – short version: Product descriptions could be of interest in your product extract if you are looking for a new product to sell.
- Product description – full version: The full version of the product description could be interesting if you also sell this product and are looking to see how your competitors market the product in their sales materials.
- Product image URLs: It can help to get an overview of the product you are monitoring by looking at pictures. So getting them as a URL from Amazon could help you do this easily.
- Product Ratings: If you are considering selling a product, then it is of interest to see what customers think of them. If the product has a low rating, then here then there is a great chance they will have the same on your site, and vice versa.
- Seller: Knowing the sales rank helps you know the strength of the completion and how much weight you should put into how they present themself. It is always better to be inspired by people who do well
- Sales rank: If you are investigating new products to sell, then sales rank is a relevant matrix. It could also be used to benchmark your current products to see if your competitors have more or less success selling the same products.
- Reviews: Reviews are a great source to know if you should stock a product or not.
- Physical product attributes: Physical product attributes, such as product size, materials, color and weight can also be relevant for you in your evaluation of whether to sell a product or not.
- Product instructions: Product instructions are perhaps not the most vital parameter to collect. One reason to do so would be to evaluate the expected level of support you could expect to offer when selling the product. Complex products might require more knowledge on your side and could potentially require more aftersales service.
- Shipping details: Shipping is always a competitive parameter. So knowing your competitor’s shipping details helps you position yourself against their service. You would also know if they are competing in the same geographical areas as you are.
- Common questions and answers: Such questions give you an idea of the user’s experience and feel of the product. Information like that is great if you are considering stocking the product in your company.
This grid shows you how the product parameters match the four reasons why you should collect product data.
So as you can see there are lots of reasons why you would want to scrape amazon product data. The next section of this article lets you know how to do so.
What does it mean to extract product data from amazon?
You can basically extract all the amazon product data that is shown on the product pages and product list pages. Amazon uses a set of predefined templates to show product lists and product descriptions.
The lists follow a specific structure in how they are designed. This makes it possible to select text elements on the pages that should be extracted. The point is that this text will be found in the same places on all of the standard Amazon products views.
The way you can extract product data from Amazon is the topic of the next section of this article.11 ways to collect Amazon product data
Thre are different ways you can collect product data from portals such as Amazon, from a tech point of view. Each of them has its own pros and cons. There are three different core approached:
- Using browser-based web scraping tools
- Using server-based web scraping tools
- Get Amazon product data an as consultancy service
We have selected the top 11 ways so you can select the way that fits the best to your needs and how you run your company.
Using browser-based web scraping tools
The big advantage of using browser-based tools is that you are in control of the scraping process because it is done from your computer. They can also be designed so that they are very easy to use.
Kaddara as an example can collect data from sites such as Amazon with just one click using predefined templates. All you have to do is to paste the Amazon product page into the system and then select how much data you need. Then you can download it as an Excel sheet with just one click.
We have four examples of web scraping tools that you can use to collect Amazon data:
Kaddara
Kaddara is smart because it is simple to use. You can choose between hundreds of rebuild download templates. And the download just requires a simple click.
This makes it extremely easy to collect the data you need. And since there are so many templates you are likely to find product sources that you might not even know existed. Kaddara allows you to create multiple users on the paid account and a single user on the free version.
Kaddara starts at just $9 per month, and you can try it for free using this link.
Grespsr
Grepsr is a Nepalese-based chrome extension scraper that specializes in collecting data from e-commerce sites. They have been on the market since 2012, so their solution is well tested and performs well.
They let you use the chrome extension for free and offer bespoke solutions to fit your needs such as Amazon extracts. So you don’t get rebuild templates the same way Kaddara offers it.
They do not show prices on their website for their consultancy service or the use of the plug in.
Web Scraper
The most installed chrome web scraping plug-in is simply called Web Scraper. It is used by more than 500.000 users worldwide. Unlike Kaddara you configure the data collection yourself. You do this in a click and select set up where you mark the fields that you would like to include in your download.
Prices start from $50 per month.
Instant Data Scraper
The second most popular Chrome web scraping extension is called Instant Data Scraper. This tool has more than 2000.000 installments. It works in exactly the same way as Web Scraper. However, the business models are quite different. Instant Data scraper uses their tool to upsell more expensive consultancy services, where Web scrape is a dedicated software as a service tool.
Since Instant Data Scraper aims at onboarding you to their consultancy service, they don’t show prices on their site.
Using server-based web scraping tools
Server-based web scraping tools collect your Amazon data via a server der scrapes the pages you need.
The biggest problem with server-based web scraping tools is that they are difficult to configure. Many of them require coding knowledge. Even the easiest to use requires a setup process that can be quite difficult to grasp.
The big advantage of server-based web scraping tools is that they can be configured to do more advanced data collection tasks. Such as to scan for a new product or price update or to monitor for product data changes. Such services make them more expensive and also more complex to set up.
The four best server-based tools to scrape data are:
Scraping bot
Scrapingbot is a tool that can be used to collect data from many different sources. It is made for developers and requires knowledge of code to be able to make it run.
The smart part of the solution is that it has a set of pre-defined templates that you can use to collect data from many different e-commerce sources.
You pay for your actual usage and don’t pay a subscription fee. So this business model is great if you do not expect to collect data on an ongoing basis.
Pricing for scraping Bot starts from €39 per month.
Octoparse
Octopase is one of the major players on the market for server-based scraping. They even have a consultancy branch that lets you pay them to collect the data you need.
They don’t have a predefined Amazon collection template, but their tool can be configured to extract data from many e-commerce sites including Amazon. You just key in the URLs and then work from there.
Pricing from Octopase starts from $75 per month and upwards.
Scrape.do
Scrape.do is a pure API-based alternative. Being API-based means that you can include the tool as a component in your sales and marketing infrastructure. The API approach means that you can create and automate a high degree of the scraping processes that you need. You can import a file into any IT system using an API,. The file can be in any format.
This API approach is very smart but also requires that you have an enterprise IT set-up and budget as such an API solution requires an intensive integration with your IT infrastructure.
Scrapy
The last server-based alternative is Scrapy. The big difference between this tool and the rest of the tools in the category is that Scrapy is open source. So there are no license costs.
This is great if you have access to a developer who will and can take the responsibility to configure the tool so that it fits your need. Of course, you run the same risk here as with all other open-source tools and that is support and guaranties. Since no one has the responsibility, there is no escalation ways if you experience scecuritye issues, lack of stability etc.
Since srapy is free, there is no software license fee. So your price is whatever it cost you to host the solution and the time your developers spend working with the tool.
Purchase Amazon product data as a service
Your last option is to outsource the data collection. Here you have different options. There are more than 5000 freelancers on Fiverr that offers web scraping as a freelance service. Their service can be bought as a one-time job for as little as $10.
On the other end of the scale is professional data collection consultancy services. They offer end-to-end data collection that spans from the tech you need to collect Amazon product data to the manpower and specialist knowledge to do so on your behalf.
We have found three of the best product data collection businesses that you could consider if you want to scrape pages but not do so yourself:
Zyte
Zyte is a good representative of a data collecting service provider. They let you choose if you prefer them to do the collection on your behalf, or if you prefer to use their tech to do the collection incorporation with them.
Since this is not a software-as-a-service business model, you will have to pay on a project basis for your collection needs.
Scrapehero
Scrapehero is a full-service web scraping consultancy company. They offer both end-to-end web scraping collaborations and access to use their tools on a project basis. So just like Zyte this is an enterprise solution that is relevant to full-scale automated e-commerce operation.
There is no pricing information on their website, so assume you will have to negotiate a price as part of the onboarding procedure.
Fiverr
An obvious and cheap way of getting data from any e-commerce site is to outsource it to a freelancer. There are lots of freelance portals on the market. The one with the freelancers is Fiverr. There are currently over 5000 web scraping services offered, so you can easily find one to do the job. If you are looking for more serious commitments then you should consider freelancers on the Upwork portal. They are more expensive, but also more professional, so you can expect better quality. So you would be able to build a long-term relationship with them.
The prices for Fiverr services start from $10, but for a usable solution, expect to pay $100 and upwards. Upwork prices are higher. Expect a price per hour around $25 – $50, so an Upwork project will probably start from $500 and upwards.
Conclusion – Scraping amazon product data without coding
There are plenty of business opportunities if you plan to scrape Amazon data. Both from a competitor perspective and from a product perspective. With so many options there are few reasons not to engage in scraper usage. Scrape amazon product data just gives you so many options. As an e-commerce professional working with data should be a must and scrape Amazon product data should be a high priority for you.
The 11 different tools that are presented in this article represent the span of possibilities that you can use to extract product data from e-commerce sites such as Amazon. Some of the tools like Kaddara just require a one-click to download the data you need.
Others are designed to be implemented into your core IT infrastructure. It so also possible to outsource the collection service. Either in a simple way where you use one of the 500o Fiverr freelancers or the more advanced solution where you engage with a consultancy service to help you collect the data, this is vital for your company.
Collect product data Amazon, Wallmart, or anywhere else. It does not matter. what matters is that you should be doing so to become more data-driven. Your approach should be that any URL with product detail can be included in the way you run your enterprise.
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