Receive Sale Alerts When New Products Become Available

We’ve received a number of inquiries recently about how to receive notifications when an out-of-stock product becomes available on an e-commerce site so we thought we’d take the time to provide an overview of this use case and a few ways in which one could set this up on ChangeTower. 

Why Monitor Product Pages on e-Commerce Sites?

So, why would someone care about receiving notifications about changes to a product’s stocking status? There are a number of reasons why individuals and businesses would like to know when certain products become newly available, drop below a certain threshold, and/or sell out completely.

Get Notified when a Product is Back in Stock

To the surprise of no one who has tried to buy tickets to a sold-out concert or get their hands on the hot holiday gift of a particular year, it turns out that some people can make a pretty decent living by buying hot ticket items and reselling them at a premium on secondary markets. Regardless of whether it’s tickets, hot gift ideas, or even big items like a Tesla, it pays to be the first to know if / when popular items become available for purchase for less than they’re selling online.

Receive Notifications when Online Inventories Reach Certain Levels

There’s also a major benefit for retailers as well. While some retailers still struggle to stock enough inventory to meet expected demand, every retailer struggles with timing. The issue of when to order/manufacture new inventory is an age-old problem and one that has significant cost implications for the business. As the owner of an e-commerce site who knows it takes 6 weeks to receive a new shipment once s/he places the order, it’s crucial that the order be placed enough in advance so that it arrives before s/he stocks out but not so far in advance that the business incurs unnecessary inventory holding costs. What makes this such a hard problem to solve? Demand. Unfortunately for business owners, demand is extremely tough to predict, especially for long-tail items typically sold online.

Step-by-step Guide for Monitoring e-commerce Websites and receiving sale alerts

Whether you are an individual hustler looking to take advantage of temporary supply/demand disequilibrium or an e-commerce retailer needing to know if / when to place your next inventory order, website monitoring tools can solve a real need. While it might take a little effort to tailor the Monitors so that they account for the particulars of a specific web URL’s design, it’s worth the effort when the alternative is manual monitoring or worse – lost sales! Here’s a guide for setting up Monitors on a Product’s web URL:

Step 1: sign up for a website monitoring tool like ChangeTower

Step 2: Create the monitor

Step 3: Set your notification criteria

Step 4: Ensure you’re alerted when the criteria is met

Step 5: Buy, order, or sell – what you do with this information is up to you!

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User feedback is the best way we know to learn, grow and evolve. Have a feature you want to see? Want to see improved capabilities in an existing tool or feature? Let us know!