Parser online store to order

Parsing is the process of automatically collecting data using specialized software. Usually, for these purposes, parser programs created in the Python or PHP programming languages ​​are used. Such programs analyze, or parse, literally any object, from directories from which contact information is collected to free classifieds sites. The only condition for parsing is the openness of data on the network, that is, if the site is not available for visiting, the parser will not be able to work with this data source.

At the same time, scraping online stores or other sites allows you to collect information, which can be quite difficult to find manually.

In any case, parsers allow you to collect huge amounts of data in a short time, saving the manual labor of professionals. In addition, parsers may have additional functions for analyzing and placing the collected data.

Parsing is a method in which a string of data or HTML text is broken down into logical syntax components and converted to a usable format. Simply put, the parser “reads” the site not the way we do, but reading the data placed in HTML – it can also be components of CSS and JavaScript, links and other information. Thus, the parser, depending on the settings, can provide completely different types of data at the output.

Especially often there is a need for specialized programs for parsing online stores. Globally, this type of scraping serves one of two purposes: collecting product and price data in order to fill your own online store, or collecting information about competitors in order to correct a business strategy.

Collecting product data from catalogs of online stores is the main purpose of parsers. After all, the assortment of even a relatively small online store in terms of sales volume consists of thousands of items. Each product requires a detailed description, and the more information is presented, the higher the likelihood that the customer will order this product from you. But complex products have many characteristics, which are easy to get confused if you place the products yourself and write descriptions for them. It is better to take the description of the product, characteristics and photos from the manufacturer’s website or an official distributor and immediately place it in your own catalog. Moreover, a well-thought-out parser for an online store will not only collect and place product cards, but also make programmed changes to them. For example, it will add 10% to the wholesale price indicated by the manufacturer, or change part of the description for the needs of your online store.

An important piece of data from e-commerce sites is product prices. Even if you filled the site with product cards with descriptions from the manufacturer’s official website, you will need to monitor the sites of competitors selling the same product in order to determine the pricing policy. Monitoring can be done offhand and in manual mode, but the accuracy of the data will be lower, and it will take more time. With an incorrectly constructed pricing policy, you will either lose money or customers (which means money again). The parser allows you to get data on the price offers of competitors and adjust your pricing policy.

Market analysis may also require the use of a parser for online stores. Many retailers, aggregators and marketplaces, in addition to the product cards themselves, offer information on the balances of specific items in warehouses and on sales per unit of time. Taken by itself for a specific day, it will tell little to the owner of an online store. But in dynamics, this information can show which products are in demand and which ones are losing consumer interest, how the market is developing and what are the consumer expectations on it. It even allows you to predict the demand for some products in the future.

How the parser of an online store works

1. the first stage – the program makes an http-request to the site from which it is necessary to receive data;
2. the donor site gives information in the form of HTML;
3. then the HTML code is parsed and recognized, from which the parser extracts all the necessary data according to the settings: images with metadata, headers, text, links, tables, etc.
4. the data is uploaded to the server or client and saved in the desired format. It can be either a CSV tabular format for Google tables, or a sql format for databases, or html for insertion into a website, and even a regular Excel spreadsheet;
5. then you can start processing the data according to the original purpose of parsing.

If your tasks are rather narrow and specialized, and you carry out parsing of online stores on a regular basis, it is better to order the development of specialized parsing for your needs. The fact is that existing ready-made solutions, especially free ones, do not allow the implementation of many useful functions. The parser of an online store, developed according to your technical assignment, can, for example, record data on the product range in 1C or use proxy servers to avoid blocking for a large number of requests. You can also configure authorization on the site before loading data and testing the settings for trial parsing.

AVADA MEDIA offers the development of a parser for online stores according to the client’s specifications. We have senior and middle level Python and PHP development specialists who specialize in developing parsers for various tasks.