# How Alternative Data Drives E-commerce Success
Author:  Pal Sinha, Barnali 
Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali
Published: 2022-01-20
Category: BUSINESS
Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/business
Meta Title: Gain a Competitive Edge with Alternative Data in E-Commerce
Meta Description: Discover how alternative data can provide valuable insights into consumer sentiment, user behaviour, and competitor strategies to boost your e-commerce
URL: https://financedigest.com/how-alternative-data-drives-e-commerce-successhtml

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_By_ [**_Gediminas Rickevičius_**](mailto:gediminas.rickevicius@oxylabs.io) **_,_** _Director of Strategic Partnerships at Oxylabs.io_

Looking to gain a competitive advantage with specialized insights into consumer sentiment, user behaviour, and competitor strategies? Alternative data gives you that edge with valuable information from novel sources that include social media websites, mobile application data, search engines, and much more.

**How Alternative Data Shakes Up E-Commerce**

Alternative [data is literally an “alternative” to traditional data such as economic](https://www.financedigest.com/oil-slumps-on-economic-data-stronger-u-s-dollar.html "Oil slumps on economic data, stronger U.S. dollar") reports, investment news, press releases, corporate annual reports, consumer reports, and trade journals. The key difference is the publisher. While traditional [data tends to get published by established agencies and firms, alternative data typically comes from digital](https://www.financedigest.com/why-data-is-the-best-weapon-in-the-war-for-digital-talent.html "Why data is the best weapon in the war for digital talent"), user-generated sources.

The current nature of [alternative data](https://www.financedigest.com/investing-in-the-future-with-alternative-web-data.html "Investing in the future with alternative web data") is precisely what makes it so relevant, leading to an explosion of its use in recent years. [According to Grandview Research](https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/alternative-data-market), the market size for alternative data in 2020 was valued at $1.72 billion and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 58.5% from 2021 to 2028. This growth rate, coupled with an increase in use cases, may even lead to alternative data becoming less of an “alternative” and more of a mainstream source of [information](https://www.financedigest.com/what-is-a-virtual-data-room-unveil-the-essential-information-here.html "What is a Virtual Data Room? Unveil the Essential Information Here!") as its use overtakes traditional data across the investment and e-commerce spaces.

_Retail and e-commerce sectors were among those most affected, both positively and negatively, by the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses had to undergo massive changes or be swept away by the changing landscape. As a result, we can see that a large portion of companies are now attempting to [optimise their performance through newly available data](https://www.financedigest.com/big-data-lowers-insurance-premiums-and-optimises-business-performance.html "Big Data Lowers Insurance Premiums and Optimises Business Performance") sources on the web._

**Tomas Montvilas, [Chief Commercial Officer](https://www.financedigest.com/tips-for-choosing-the-right-chief-finance-officer-for-your-business.html "Tips for Choosing the Right Chief Finance Officer for Your Business"), Oxylabs.io**

**Where To Get Alternative Data For E-Commerce**

Oxylabs’ [latest survey of 250+ senior data decision-makers](https://oxylabs.io/blog/free-white-paper-ecommerce-drives-roi-upwards-with-alternative-data) from leading retail and e-commerce businesses across the UK revealed that roughly **52 percent** obtained data via integrations with 3rd party databases, **48 percent** purchased data sets from data vendors, and **47 percent** used data scraping and manual data collection.

Data scraping (also known as data extraction or web scraping) uses scripts to crawl the web, extract data, and parse (or “clean up”) the data to prepare it for use by analysts. While [web scraping methods may vary widely across businesses](https://www.financedigest.com/reasons-to-hire-a-web-developer-for-your-business-website.html "Reasons to Hire a Web Developer for Your Business Website"), two typical scenarios include:

**In-House Web Scraping**

In-house web scraping requires a team of developers, system administrators, data analysts, and data specialists to create and configure the scripts that crawl and extract data from the web. Typically favoured by large companies, in-house operations require a substantial capital outlay to conduct and maintain the process, and offer benefits such as increased flexibility and customisation.

**Outsourced Web Scraping**

Demand for solutions on a smaller scale has led to the development of ready-to-use, customizable web scraping tools that smaller firms can use to conduct web scraping on a budget. Besides being cost-effective, these applications reduce the management and development burden and can lead to better [efficiency by allowing businesses to divert focus from the complex extraction process](https://www.financedigest.com/1-easy-tip-to-make-a-key-e-commerce-process-more-efficient.html "1 easy tip to make a key e-commerce process more efficient") to deriving insights for use in business strategies.

**Manual Data Collection**

Manual data collection is exactly as it sounds: the manual collection of data via copying/pasting or downloading from digital sources. Along with the extraction process, manual collection uses [standard spreadsheet programs to clean the data](https://www.financedigest.com/finalised-pan-european-data-protection-laws-set-the-new-standard-for-a-privacy-friendly-business-environment.html "Finalised Pan-European data protection laws set the new standard for a ‘privacy-friendly’ business environment") prior to analysis. When contrasted to web scraping – which can extract hundreds of pages in seconds – manual collection is time-consuming, inefficient, and subject to human error.

**How Alternative [Data Enhances](https://www.financedigest.com/trendrating-1-3-delivers-faster-data-analysis-and-enhanced-risk-control-tools.html "Trendrating 1.3 delivers faster data analysis and enhanced risk control tools") E-Commerce Strategies**

Use cases for alternative data span marketing to pricing [strategies and are growing](https://www.financedigest.com/4-strategies-for-quickly-growing-your-startup.html "4 Strategies for Quickly Growing Your Startup") continuously as the amount of user-generated data on the internet increases.

Some current [ways you can use alternative data include:](https://www.financedigest.com/3-ways-to-safeguard-and-include-women-in-construction.html "3 ways to safeguard and include women in construction")

- Scraping public social media sites to learn about popular products in different categories
- Extracting user-generated content from public [social media sites for use in pricing strategies](https://www.financedigest.com/why-no-event-should-be-planned-without-a-social-media-strategy.html "Why No Event Should Be Planned Without a Social Media Strategy")
- Scraping review sites to gauge sentiment for use in product development
- Extracting data on competitors, including popular products and keywords used in product descriptions
- Scraping consumer data from [e-commerce sites](https://www.financedigest.com/5-reasons-why-e-commerce-sites-need-a-token-gateway.html "5 reasons why e-commerce sites need a token gateway") for use in upsells and cross-sells
- Extracting [data from e-store to gain](https://www.financedigest.com/shares-steady-dollar-gains-ahead-of-u-s-inflation-data.html "Shares steady, dollar gains ahead of U.S. inflation data") insights into user behaviour for use in site optimization and marketing, including actions taken, products clicked, status updates, comments, and reviews
- Scraping for keywords used in comments and reviews to refine marketing on website, email, and social media
- Monitoring price differences for use in [dynamic pricing strategies](https://oxylabs.io/blog/what-is-dynamic-pricing)

_E-commerce and [retail sector’s exponential growth and rising global importance led us to look deeper](https://www.financedigest.com/russian-retail-sales-fall-deeper-jobless-rate-rises-in-sept-data.html "Russian retail sales fall deeper, jobless rate rises in Sept – data") into the transformation it went through. These business fields were always heavily driven by data, precise calculations, and [predictive analytics](https://www.financedigest.com/predictive-analytics-a-new-way-of-insuring-success.html "Predictive analytics: a new way of insuring success"). Therefore, we focused partly on [data management as the digitalisation of business](https://www.financedigest.com/5-simple-ways-to-prevent-a-data-breach-from-putting-your-accountancy-practice-out-of-business.html "5 Simple ways to prevent a data breach from putting your accountancy practice out of business") opened new areas of opportunity. We hope our survey will reveal the same insights to [decision makers in every sector and lead to the adoption of data](https://www.financedigest.com/wage-data-dents-dollar-recovery-before-fed-rate-decision.html "Wage data dents dollar recovery before Fed rate decision") collection and management amongst them._

**Julius Černiauskas, [Chief Executive Officer](https://www.financedigest.com/host-analytics-appoints-chris-labruna-as-chief-revenue-officer.html "Host Analytics Appoints Chris LaBruna as Chief Revenue Officer"), Oxylabs.io**

**Ready to learn more about scraping data for use in e-commerce?**

The e-commerce industry is investing more time and resources than ever before into creating [strategies for scraping alternative data](https://www.financedigest.com/real-time-connect-nyc-where-adtech-leaders-come-together-to-redefine-data-strategies.html "Real-Time Connect (NYC): Where AdTech leaders come together to redefine data strategies"). [Oxylabs’ survey of over 250 e-commerce company executives](https://oxylabs.io/blog/free-white-paper-ecommerce-drives-roi-upwards-with-alternative-data) is now available as a whitepaper, offering valuable insights into how alternative data is being obtained, how it is being used, and who is using it.

**What you’ll learn from Oxylabs’ Alternative Data whitepaper:**

- How widespread is the use of alternative data for e-commerce in the UK?
- What [businesses are using alternative data](https://www.financedigest.com/keeping-data-connected-for-greater-business-value.html "Keeping Data Connected for Greater Business Value")? What sizes and which sectors?
- How is my competition collecting alternative data?
- Has COVID-19 impacted data collection practices and budgets?
- What [challenges are my competitors facing when collecting data](https://www.financedigest.com/the-challenge-of-keeping-data-secure-why-in-house-security-isnt-enough.html "The challenge of keeping data secure: why in-house security isn’t enough")?
- What alternative [data and web scraping strategies are my competitors planning](https://www.financedigest.com/data-analytics-scenario-planning-and-the-finance-department.html "Data analytics, scenario planning, and the finance department") to use in the upcoming year?

To get the answers to these questions – and much more – download our whitepaper: [The Growing Importance of External Data in the E-Commerce Industry](https://oxylabs.io/blog/free-white-paper-ecommerce-drives-roi-upwards-with-alternative-data).


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