Variant Level Product Matching Challenges
What extent do we consider a product a ‘match’ against a competitor’s product? It is one of the hardest challenges for providing price comparison. The detail needed to be observed at a variant of a product depends on factors such as competitor clients in different marketplaces, type of product offerings, and direct and indirect competitors. Finding a product match without considering a variant level match in some market may be enough. However, in most cases, the detail needed to ‘match’ is much more complex.
Variants are the options (or choices) available while purchasing a product. It may comprise of generic attributes such as size, color, material, quantity or specific attributes such as Amp, Wattage, Voltage, Resistance for electrical tools, features or add-ons for software packages, ingredients for food products, etc. Sellers can explore which product variants are affecting market pricing, and in turn, tweak reports to achieve better insights into competitor and market behavior.
Variants typically have a dynamic relationship with product prices, i.e. product prices can differ per variants — color, size, functionality, features, components, material, pattern, etc.
Here’s an example of a product price that varies with variant colors -
When a Competitive Pricing Intelligence (CPI) is run for two variant products, it is essential to accumulate an enriched set of product attributes. Variant level matching is a major challenge for exact product matching. Depending on the product type and requirement, variants may have to be matched against a single or multiple attributes such as size, color, quantity, material, etc.
In the below example, the requirement is to match a black leather shoe. The competitor sells black leather and a suede shoe. Here, we do not need to consider the size or other attributes for the product.
Client Product
Competitor Variant Product
To ensure the right variant is matched for each SKU, GrowByData’s proprietary Competitive Pricing Intelligence (CPI) algorithm marks such cases for review. With a mix of Artificial Intelligence, Human Intelligence and quality check process, we guarantee correct or high level of product variant matching.
Thus, we generate accurate SKU level competitive pricing analysis.
Originally published at https://growbydata.com on September 6, 2019.
