Web scraping is the automated process of extracting data and information from websites using software. Unlike manual data collection, web scraping is highly scalable and error-prone. In addition to the simple data extraction step, data can also be cleaned, validated or merged with other data sources and then fed into different output formats or systems such as databases, csv files, etc.
There are various aspects how web scraping can be used to help your business.
Collecting price data from other web sites is probably the most common use case for web scraping. By monitoring e-commerce websites you can automatically adjust your own prices or purchase decisions. As a business this could help you to stay competitive by improving your margins.
Identifying potential customers is an important aspect of your sales operations. Web scraping can help you to identify and collect relevant data for leads, such as company names, name of decision makers and contact details such as email addresses or telephone numbers. In short web scraping can be a very powerful tool to create a list of prospects and to grow your sales.
Web scraping can also be used to collect data from news sites, forums or social media which can then be analysed to understand consumer behavior. Consumer data or sentiment can also be used to identify trends or changes in the market which can then be used for strategic decision making.
Web scraping can also be used to monitor content on other websites such as news pages for instance. Whenever a new piece of information is published, the scraper could apply a certain logic, send out emails to inform about relevant changes etc.
With the rise of artificial intelligence there are many new opportunities to improve the process of web scraping. Not only can extracted data from websites be put into large language model to maybe get some additional information about the data but artificial intelligence can also help to make the web scraping process more robust.
Cases where web scrapers stop working after a change to the original website such as a introducing a new template are very common unfortunately. By using techniques such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, web scrapers can be trained to cope with minor changes of the original data source making web scraping tools more robust.
Partnering with a professional and experienced software company specialized in web scraping has several advantages:
Web scraping is a very powerful tool that can significantly improve how businesses collect and use data. There are many different use cases for web scraping such as price monitoring, lead generation or market research. Working with a software company that has experience and knowledge in web scraping will help to unlock the full potential and help you to stay ahead of your competition.
Would you like to use web scraping for your business? Please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to provide you with a free offer for a custom web scraping solution tailored to your needs.