Data scraping tools make gathering seller data on Amazon infinitely easier. With 2.14 billion online shoppers and 2 million active sellers, Amazon is a treasure trove of customer and seller data. The data can give Amazon sellers a competitive edge and help their businesses grow.
Key Takeaways:
- Amazon is the repository of product, price, and review data from millions of customers and sellers
- Data scraping is an automated method of acquiring data from Amazon using the HTML or Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) by way of API requests
- Most Amazon sellers use data scrapers to gather review and pricing data to gain a competitive edge
- Amazon disapproves of data scraping and has taken steps to discourage the practice
- Other tools provide the same type of data you can get with data scraping tools but without the risks
Is Data Scraping a Good Idea for Your E-Commerce Business?
Data scraping tools can benefit Amazon sellers, especially regarding pricing and sentiment analysis.
Remember, data scraping tools aren’t user-friendly, even those for noncoders. They’re also inefficient because you still need to process the raw data to get actionable insights.
Additionally, you run the risk of getting your IP blocked or running into legal trouble if you use confidential information for profit.
Overall, the cons of using data scraping tools for your e-commerce business could outweigh the pros.
Top Three Amazon Data Scrapers
- Octoparse: Easiest to Use
- ParseHub: Best for Web Scraping
- ProxyCrawl: Best Free Trial
If you decide to use these tools, Amazon provides access to data through its application programming interface (API), but it comes with many restrictions. You might have to use Python-based tools such as Scrappy to get at the juicy data, but that would bewilder most noncoders to no end.
Fortunately, Amazon sellers won’t need to jump through technical hoops to get to the valuable data from Amazon webpages. They can use data scraping tools that automate that for sellers, marketers, and researchers.
There are quite a few data scrapers for Amazon available, but these three make it to our list since they’re suitable for noncoders too. Even then, take the time to watch the tutorial and follow instructions carefully until you get the hang of them.
Octoparse: Easiest to Use
Octoparse is the simplest to use of the three Amazon data scrapers on this list. It’s a cloud platform compatible with Windows. You can use Octoparse to extract information from many websites, including Amazon, by clicking on an element on the web page you want. It has several templates for different scraping tasks for specific Amazon sites.
You can also run multiple extractions at the same time and schedule tasks. For more complex websites, you can use the Wizard mode to access advanced features.
Octoparse has a free plan for simple scraping projects for up to 10,000 records for export to CSV, Excel, MySQL, SQLServer, or JSON. The paid plan starts at $89 a month, and you can cancel anytime. You can also choose an annual plan at $75 a month.
ParseHub: Best for Web Scraping
ParseHub isn’t specific to Amazon, but it’s an effective web scraping tool for any web page, including Amazon product pages. It scrapes the HTML so that you only need to put in the URL, make your selections, and it fetches you the data on that page. You can download it in CSV, Excel, JSON, Google Sheets, or Tableau format.
ParseHub is relatively easy to use even for noncoders, provided you follow the tutorial and understand the function of the different tools. A nice feature of ParseHub is you can click on a data point, and everything similar is selected.
ParseHub is a free tool for your first five projects or 200 pages of data, whichever comes first. The paid version starts at $189 per month, and you can cancel anytime.
ProxyCrawl: Best Free Trial
One of the biggest problems of Amazon data scraping is doing it without getting caught. Amazon disapproves of data scraping, so it uses many methods to prevent it. ProxyCrawl solves that by bypassing bot detection, protecting you against internet protocol (IP) leak, site ban, CAPTCHA, browser crash, and proxy failure.
This scraper lets you get publicly available data for each product you specify by sending API requests. You can also obtain data from Amazon search results, such as bestseller and ranking information. It’s easy to use, and you get results as JSON objects.
You can start scraping data from Amazon in minutes, and the first 1,000 requests are free when you sign up to use it. No credit card is required. Paid subscriptions start at $29 for 50,000 credits (1 credit per API request) per month.
How Does an Amazon Data Scraper Work?
Data scrapers are autonomous bots that extract data from the web from the Hypertext markup language (HTML) of a web page. In the case of Amazon data scrapers, scrapers can also extract data from the ASIN of a product.
Both the HTML and ASIN are unique to a specific product on Amazon and contain much of the same data, so it works either way.
What Information Can You Get With a Data Scraper?
An Amazon data scraper organizes the data it collects into a readable format, such as an Excel file so that you ― the user ― can understand it. Among the information, you can gather legally include the following.
- Product prices: Useful for competitor pricing analysis
- Product lists of competitors: Useful for competitor product analysis
- Reviews of your products and those of your competitors: Useful for sentiment analysis
- Top-ranking and top-rated products: Useful for trend analysis
- Top reviewers: Useful for soliciting reviews
- Customer profiles: Useful for lead generation
Can You Get Personal Customer Information With a Data Scraper?
Most of the data scraped from Amazon is available publicly. But it’s best to be careful with scraping personal information about customers and how you use it to avoid landing in trouble.
Avoid using a data scraper to gather personally identifiable information, such as email addresses. It might be tempting to use them to reach out to potential customers to promote your products, but that can backfire if they start wondering how you got the information in the first place.
You don’t want to ruin your brand’s reputation by coming off as a bit shady.
Why You Should Consider Using a Data Scraper for Your Amazon Storefront?
- You can acquire a competitive edge
- You’ll improve your marketing
- You can track your products
- To Cater to customers
Most Amazon sellers use data scrapers to get price data and customer reviews, and those alone are enough reasons to use it for your storefront.
Below are some of the reasons to consider an Amazon data scraper.
You Can Acquire a Competitive Edge
With so many sellers on Amazon, it can be hard to stand out. About half (49.2%) of Amazon buyers prioritize the best pricing, so it’s critical to know the prices of products you sell or intend to sell on the platform.
The data you gather helps you decide the best price to attract the most attention and may even get you the Buy Box. It also informs you how much markup you can use comfortably without losing sales.
You’ll Improve Marketing
Knowing what to highlight in your marketing materials is also an excellent way to attract attention to your brand or products. Data scrapers can gather information about the best deals for specific products so you can create better offers.
You Can Track Products
If you sell your products to other sellers, data scrapers can keep you informed about how these third parties are handling and using your product and ensuring they comply with the conditions of your selling agreement. For example, if they agree to advertise the product for specific uses, you can see if they follow it easily.
To Cater To Customers
The value of customer reviews cannot be overstated. Knowing what customers like and don’t like about your products and those of your competitors can give you a critical edge in winning customer approval and loyalty.
Customer reviews can also give you a good idea of the buyer segments most likely to purchase your products. Only if you know what your customers or potential customers want can you give it to them.
Having customer database management software integrated with your Amazon seller account also helps with engaging your customers.
Quick Summary on Using Amazon Data Scrapers
Using Amazon data scrapers depends on the solution you choose for your project. ParseHub, for example, uses three basic tools for selecting and categorizing the items for scraping before running the program, while Octoparse uses a simple click and run method.
Generally, there are three steps to using a data scraper.
- Copy and paste the URL or ASIN into the data scraper.
- Select the items or elements on the page you want to scrape.
- Run the extraction program and download the results in your preferred or available format.
Using Amazon data scrapers is relatively easy, which is the whole point of having one in the first place. But not all data scrapers are created equal. Some run into trouble when scraping Amazon pages because of too-frequent requests or too-predictable behavior.
Amazon can spot a bot a mile away, so choose a data scraper that can avoid the safeguards put up by Amazon to prevent data scraping.
What To Do Next?
Look for tools and software other than data scraping tools to get the information you need from Amazon. There are lots of them available, and some are even free.
You can use a price tracker like camelcamelcamel or a product tracker, such as Unicorn Smasher Pro Chrome extension. Both are easy to use and provide much the same information you would get with data scraping tools.
You can also use paid product research software specific to Amazon to gain that competitive edge. Among the most popular are Jungle Scout and AMZScout, and you can check this article to decide which one is right for you.