Data plays a significant role regardless of what field your business is in. With a good database, you can learn a lot about your customers, the market, your competitors, and the latest trends.
The Impact of Not Using Proxies for Data Gathering in Various Industries
In this article, we’ll highlight three different industries that benefit hugely from big data. You’ll also discover the potential risks of not implementing proxies and bots in your information-gathering process.
E-Commerce
If you run an e-commerce business, the key to success is building dynamic pricing strategies. You’ll achieve this by using your competition’s datasets and making stocking decisions according to your potential customers’ social media posts. By not leveraging proxies, your marketing budget will go to waste, leading to adverse business outcomes.
The common information an e-commerce business might be interested in include:
- Product pricing among business rivals
- Client reviews across various platforms
- Sales volumes among competitors
Collecting these data points manually is a prolonged and tedious process. The details change without warning and frequently, which means that the data you collect today might not be valid a week from now.
Take product pricing, for example. With outdated data, your pricing strategy won’t apply any longer. You might risk a chunk of sales volume, both long- and short-term. Keep in mind that consumers will not stick to a retailer that sells overpriced goods.
In terms of reviews, they give you valuable insight into what your competition is doing right and what needs fixing. For instance, if a product is challenging to assemble, you might consider offering free installation to boost sales. Without real-time information, you might lose the opportunity to provide a better solution for customers.
Finance
The finance industry relies heavily on data. Whether you’re running a financial institution, stock brokerage, investment fund, or insurance company, you need the latest market information to plan your next moves.
In finance, useful information might pertain to:
- Securities transfers
- News updates about particular industries or companies
- Public perception about a certain stock or commodity
If you’re gathering your information manually, you’ll miss out on real-time updates on the movement of stocks. This indicates investors’ interest and willingness to trade. In addition, you’ll lose focus on the current price stability and mobility. Trading on inaccurate information means skewed decisions and losses for yourself and your clients.
There’s a lot of noise in news updates. But once you remove the clutter, you’ll find valuable information within. The key is getting to the critical stuff in time. News affects the price of a stock and its movement. If you’re trading on old news, you’ll lose your advantage.
Have you heard of the effects of social media platforms on the stock market? Recently, the subreddit r/WallStreetBets made the news as Redditors turned GameStop into the squeeze of the decade. If you don’t perform data scraping on forums with proxies and bots, you won’t be in on the action.
Headhunting
To succeed in talent sourcing, you need a database of companies looking to hire and job applicants. Many platforms provide this information, the most crucial of which is LinkedIn. How do you expand your pool of potential candidates to ensure that you can find the right fit for that CEO position?
Information on the internet that will be valuable to a headhunting firm includes:
- The details of highly-qualified people in various industries (employment history, educational background, skills, current status, and proficiency in specific apps)
- Company data (size, growth rate, value, and industry)
Collecting data about people and their work history is not something you can do manually. First of all, the databases are massive. Secondly, the information changes regularly. One person might be looking for a job one day and be employed the next. Others might gain an educational credential that they lacked just weeks before. As per WP Dev Shed, without using proxies and scraping bots, you’ll be wasting your time contacting candidates who aren’t interested or don’t qualify.
The same thing happens with company data. If a firm sees massive growth, the number of employees might change dramatically in the course of months. A candidate you have in mind might mention they want to work with smaller companies. Therefore, finding the right fit involves having updated information.
The Bottom Line
Don’t have a team of data entry clerks keying in the information they find on the internet. That’s not the way to survive in this cutthroat world. Learn the intricacies of data scraping with bots and proxies, and you’ll definitely have a leg up in your industry. Many providers supply proxies specifically to gather data, like this one. Remember: real-time data is king!
