# Competitor price monitoring: a practical guide > How to monitor competitor prices: what to track, matching the same product across stores, how often to check, reading the numbers, and acting on them. *Source: https://shopsavvy.com/learn/competitor-price-monitoring · Published 2026-10-12* --- ## What competitor price monitoring is Competitor price monitoring means checking what other sellers charge for the products you sell, on a schedule, and keeping the results. Done well it answers three questions every day: where your price sits against the market, who moved, and whether a competitor ran out of stock. The output is not one number. It is a price per competitor per product, each with the time it was seen, plus the history of those prices so a change can be told apart from a routine weekend promotion. ## Decide what to track - Products: start with the items that drive revenue or that shoppers compare most, not the whole catalog. Add the rest once the first set is useful. - Competitors: the retailers your customers actually compare you with. A long list of small sellers who list the same item adds noise, not insight. - Third-party sellers: on marketplaces, the same product can have many sellers at different prices. Decide whether you compete with the marketplace itself, its sellers, or both. - Availability: a competitor that is out of stock changes the decision as much as one that cut its price. - Condition: compare new with new. Used, refurbished and open-box prices belong in their own column. ## Match the same product across stores Most errors in price monitoring are matching errors: a pack of two compared with a single, last year’s model with this year’s, or a bundle with the bare product. Identifiers prevent most of them. - Use a barcode (UPC or EAN), an ASIN or the competitor’s product URL whenever you have one. Titles alone are the least reliable way to match. - Check pack size, color and storage variants before you trust a match; a different variant can carry a different barcode and price. - Keep the matched identifier with every price you record, so a wrong match can be found and fixed later. [UPC and barcode lookups](https://shopsavvy.com/learn/barcode-lookup-api): How barcodes are matched to products, including shared barcodes and check digits. ## How often to check Check as often as you can act. If prices are set once a week, a daily check is enough to see what changed; if you reprice during the day, or the category runs flash sales, you need several checks a day. Checking more often than you can respond only adds data. | ShopSavvy for Business plan | Price (monthly) | Products | Refresh options | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Starter | $99.99 | Up to 50 | Daily, Weekly, Manual | | Growth | $249.99 | Up to 150 | 4 hours, 12 hours, Daily, Weekly, Manual | | Professional | $499.99 | Up to 300 | Hourly, 4 hours, 12 hours, Daily, Weekly, Manual | | Enterprise | Quote | More than 300 | Custom | Every plan starts with a 14-day trial. Prices come from tens of thousands of retailers; each one shows when it was last seen. ## Reading the numbers - Gap to the lowest price: (your price − lowest competitor price) ÷ lowest competitor price. Positive means you are above the cheapest. - Price index: your price ÷ the median competitor price × 100. Above 100 means you are priced above the middle of the market. - Rank: where your price falls among competitors, cheapest first. Useful when shoppers compare a short list. - Change since the last check, and against the product’s own history, so a one-day promotion is not mistaken for a new price. - Out-of-stock competitors, listed separately: they are not really competing today. [Competitor price gap calculator](https://shopsavvy.com/tools/price-gap-calculator): Enter your price and your competitors’ to get the gap, index, rank, and the price that matches or beats the lowest. ## Acting on what you see - Write the rule before the price moves: match the lowest, stay within a set percentage of it, or hold when the cheaper competitor is out of stock. - Set a floor from your own cost and margin, and never price below it automatically. - Treat minimum advertised price (MAP) agreements as a separate check: a competitor below MAP is a brand question, not a reason to follow them down. - Review the history before reacting to one low price; many drops are short promotions that end on their own. ## By hand, a spreadsheet, or a tool A spreadsheet and a few minutes a day work for a handful of products. The time grows with every product, competitor and check. For example, 50 products × 5 competitors × 2 checks a week is about 2,167 checks a month. At 2 minutes a check that is about 72 hours, or about $2,167 a month at $30 an hour, against Starter at $99.99 a month. Your own numbers may come out the other way, and the calculator on the ShopSavvy for Business page says so when they do. [Competitor price tracking spreadsheet](https://shopsavvy.com/templates/competitor-price-tracking-spreadsheet): A free Excel and Google Sheets template with formulas for the lowest price, your gap and rank. [ShopSavvy for Business](https://shopsavvy.com/business): Import products by URL, ASIN, barcode or model number, choose refresh frequencies by plan, and get email or web push alerts when prices or stock change. ## Building it into your own software If the prices need to land in your own system rather than a dashboard, a product data API gives you the same offers by request: the current price at every retailer for a barcode, ASIN or URL, with the time each was seen, and the history behind it. [Product data API guide](https://shopsavvy.com/learn/product-data-api-guide): What a product data API returns, how matching and freshness work, and what it costs. ## Frequently asked questions **What is competitor price monitoring?** Checking what other sellers charge for the products you sell, on a schedule, and keeping each price with the time it was seen, so you know where your price sits, who changed theirs and who is out of stock. **How often should I check competitor prices?** As often as you can act on what you find. Weekly or daily is enough when you set prices weekly; categories with frequent promotions, or a business that reprices during the day, need several checks a day. **How much does ShopSavvy for Business cost?** Plans start at $99.99 a month for up to 50 products, and every plan has a 14-day trial. More than 300 products is an Enterprise quote. **Can I monitor marketplace sellers as well as retailers?** Yes. Decide first whether you compete with the marketplace’s own price, its third-party sellers or both, and keep them apart in your comparison, because one product can have many sellers at different prices. ## Related - [ShopSavvy for Business](https://shopsavvy.com/business) - [Competitor price gap calculator](https://shopsavvy.com/tools/price-gap-calculator) - [Competitor price tracking spreadsheet](https://shopsavvy.com/templates/competitor-price-tracking-spreadsheet) - [MAP monitoring](https://shopsavvy.com/business/for-map-monitoring) - [Prisync alternatives](https://shopsavvy.com/compare/prisync-alternatives) - [ShopSavvy for Business sample dashboard](https://shopsavvy.com/business/products?demo=true)