Still using web-scraped product data to fuel your product information management (PIM) system or your e-Commerce distribution site? You’re digging your own grave.

Web scraping is the process of extracting data from a website using a bot or script and repurposing it on another site. In terms of product data, web scrapers search manufacturers and other (often competing) distributors’ sites for product data such as names, descriptions, make/model, size, colour, images, etc. and then download it into a database with each type of information tagged and organized.

With the rise of e-Commerce and the demand for product information, scraping became the de-facto solution five years ago for distributors to get product information because it was relatively affordable and automated.

However, relying on scraped product data today will limit distributors’ e-Commerce efforts.

Using Scraped Product Data Doesn’t Scale

Data that is scraped from a website is static and reflects only a snapshot in time. To get changes or new product information, you have to scrape again and again. Unfortunately, if your source website updates its design or layout, your scrapers won’t be able to read the information they need without making changes. At best, you end up with missing information. At worst, incorrect product information gets into your PIM and, from there, your e-Commerce site.

To manage this, you have to dedicate headcount to maintaining your scrapers and to checking and correcting scraped data. Scaling up the number of sites you scrape, say going from ten to two hundred, becomes cumbersome and time-consuming as more and more issues arise at this largescale. What appears to be a quick fix ends up requiring more and more stop-gap solutions, drowning distributors in overhead and siphoning headcount.

Why are there so many errors? Because web scraping is a hack.

If scraping is so ineffective and error-prone, why have so many distributors used it? Simply put, until recently, it’s been the only option available.

OnePDX Provides a Better Option

Supply Cloud’s OnePDX is built for B2B e-Commerce, by engineers who understand the challenges and needs of channels and distributors. To build a commerce-centric platform with accurate and complete data that is scalable across all your manufacturers and suppliers, OnePDX uses a completely different approach than scrapers – integration.

With one single connection, OnePDX integrates with all popular e-Commerce platforms, allowing a direct connection between a distributor and each of its manufacturers and suppliers. Instead of just extracting bare data from a product data page on the web, OnePDX uses APIs to get product data and assets directly from the source in a secure and controlled environment.

The result is a seamless, automated, scalable product infrastructure that gives distributors an accurate and responsive set of product data without time and resource-consuming “scraping hacks”.

Quality product information is required for distributors to preserve their B2B reputation and web presence while also increasing leads. Poor product data results in poor buying experiences. OnePDX gives you accurate, current, comprehensive, and detailed product information without effort or maintenance.

With OnePDX, integration rules the day, and scraping hacks become a thing of the past.