Accurate, complete, and up-to-date product data is critical for success across ecommerce channels like Google Shopping, Amazon, TikTok, and Meta. Yet some retailers lack a structured product file or direct access to backend systems, making it difficult to build channel-ready feeds. In cases like these, the most reliable source of data is often found on the product pages of the retailer’s website.
That’s where web crawling and scraping come in. Whether you’re migrating from a custom platform, pulling in data from supplier sites, enriching incomplete exports, or automating updates, these methods offer a scalable way to extract and structure product data directly from your site—or your partners’.
In this blog, we’ll explore common use cases where web scraping helps unlock high-quality product data and how Feedonomics turns unstructured website content into optimized feeds for a multitude of important use cases.
What is product data scraping?
Web scraping is the process of automatically extracting information from web pages. In ecommerce, this often involves collecting key product data, such as titles, prices, specifications, images, and descriptions, directly from a website’s front end when a structured export isn’t available.
Basic web scraping tools can crawl websites, locate specific data points, and convert unstructured content into usable formats like CSV, XML, or JSON. These tools are useful for simple, one-time extraction tasks, but often require technical expertise, regular maintenance, and customization to adapt to changes in site structure.
A feed management platform like Feedonomics goes beyond basic scraping by offering end-to-end support for ecommerce data extraction, normalization, and syndication. It can identify relevant fields on your site—or your partners’ sites—structure the data for multiple channels, and apply business rules to ensure the feed is optimized. This eliminates manual work, reduces errors, and provides a scalable solution for building high-quality channel-ready product feeds.
Challenges solved by web crawling and product data scraping
Web crawling and product data scraping can address a variety of data challenges for ecommerce businesses. When done with a feed management platform like Feedonomics, these methods help streamline everything from initial feed creation to ongoing enrichment and optimization. Below are some of the most common and impactful use cases:
No access to centralized product data or backend systems
Merchants without access to a centralized product file, PIM, or structured backend data often rely on their website as the most up-to-date source of product information, and may need product data scraping to build their first feed.
For example, imagine a home goods retailer wants to expand by advertising on Google Shopping and Meta, but their only source of product information is their storefront.
Without a PIM or export tool, they turn to Feedonomics to scrape their website, extract product titles, descriptions, images, and prices, and format the data so that it is optimized and ready for product listing ads on Google Shopping and Facebook.
Migrating product catalogs from legacy or custom-built ecommerce platforms
Merchants migrating from outdated or custom-built ecommerce platforms—especially legacy or homegrown websites—often lack access to structured exports or backend systems, making it difficult to retrieve their product data. In these cases, web scraping serves as a powerful migration tool to extract and structure the necessary data for a smooth transition to a new platform.
For example, a distributor with a legacy ecommerce site is moving to BigCommerce but doesn’t have access to structured product data, especially with the original developer no longer involved. Feedonomics scrapes the entire site, including product pages, then normalizes and structures the information to meet BigCommerce’s data specifications. This allows for a smooth migration without rebuilding the catalog from scratch.
Collecting product data from multiple suppliers or partners without structured feeds
Marketplaces, aggregators, or dropshippers often need to collect product data from multiple partner websites, especially when those partners don’t offer structured feeds. With permission, Feedonomics can crawl these third-party ecommerce sites to extract and normalize the data, enabling the platform to display accurate, consistent listings from a wide range of sources.
For example, a vehicle classifieds platform wants to list inventory from dozens of local dealerships that don’t offer product feeds or APIs. Feedonomics sets up scheduled web scrapes to extract product details—like make, model, price, and mileage—from each partner’s site. The data is then standardized and aggregated into a single feed for the platform.
Missing key attributes in existing product feeds
Scraping is especially useful when a seller’s data exports are missing key attributes, like product specs, model numbers, or descriptions, that only appear on the website front end. In these cases, site data is often more complete than the exported feed, and web scraping helps pull in the missing information to enrich and optimize product listings.
For example, a consumer electronics retailer’s data feed lacks detailed product specifications, which are crucial for marketplace listings. The specs are present on the product pages but not included in a standard export. Feedonomics scrapes those pages to extract the missing data and merges it with the existing feed, resulting in more complete and optimized listings.
Lack of up-to-date product data for dynamic ad campaigns
Advertisers running large-scale campaigns often need accurate, updated product data, like titles, prices, and availability, to power dynamic ad creation and updates. Feedonomics can crawl a merchant’s storefront to extract this information and feed it into paid search, shopping ads, and local inventory ads, ensuring ads stay relevant and up to date.
For example, a fashion retailer wants to launch dynamic text ads with new titles for a sale of fast-moving products, but it’s important to only advertise products that are in stock. Stock information is most up-to-date on its website.
Feedonomics scrapes the product pages to extract title data for products that are in stock, enabling the brand to populate ads automatically, leading to more relevant ads and reduced wasted spend or ad disapprovals.
Manual or inflexible product export tools
Sometimes, ecommerce platforms have manual, inflexible, or no scheduled export capabilities, making it hard to keep feeds consistently up to date. Web scraping enables automated, recurring data collection directly from the site, which is especially valuable for retailers with frequent inventory or pricing changes.
For example, imagine a health supplement brand can export product data manually from their site, but there’s no way to schedule automatic updates. Feedonomics sets up a recurring web scrape to pull the latest product details, like price changes or stock levels, directly from the site. This ensures their feeds stay accurate without relying on manual intervention.
Scaling listings from job boards, classifieds, or external marketplaces
Vertical marketplaces often need to collect and maintain large volumes of listings from external sources, such as partner job boards, real estate sites, or auto dealers. With web scraping, Feedonomics can crawl these sites to onboard listings at scale and keep them updated, ensuring data accuracy without relying on manual uploads or custom feeds.
For example, a job aggregator wants to feature listings from hundreds of employer career pages, but each site structures its job postings differently and doesn’t provide a feed. Feedonomics uses scheduled web crawls to extract job titles, descriptions, locations, and application links, then formats the data into a consistent structure for publishing and ongoing updates.
Unlocking the full value of your website’s product data
For merchants without access to a centralized product file or backend exports, websites often become the most accurate and accessible source of product information. Feedonomics helps bridge the gap by using responsible scraping techniques to extract product data directly from your site’s HTML structure.
Once collected, that data is transformed into clean, structured formats, ready for optimization and syndication across ad channels, marketplaces, or your own custom platform. This approach offers clear advantages: it automates feed creation, supports rapid channel expansion, and provides a reliable foundation for ongoing data enrichment and optimization.
Whether you’re migrating platforms, enriching incomplete exports, or scaling your multichannel presence, Feedonomics helps turn your existing site content into scalable product feeds.
Ready to turn website product data into high-quality product feeds?
Web crawling and scraping product data FAQs
Why would a retailer use web scraping for ecommerce data collection?
Retailers often use web scraping tools to collect structured ecommerce data from their own websites or partner sites when a centralized data export isn’t available. This approach allows them to gather key attributes like product names, product prices, and descriptions for use across multiple channels.
Why use a feed management platform for product data scraping?
A feed management platform like Feedonomics is better than a standard scraping tool because it goes beyond simply using crawlers to extract data from ecommerce websites and online directories. While basic scraping tools can scrape data from pages, a feed management platform can also parse, structure, and optimize that data for performance across search engines, marketplaces, and ad platforms.
With Feedonomics, scraped data can be transformed to meet the best practices of ad platforms like Google and Microsoft, social media platforms like Meta and TikTok, and marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart. The platform enables businesses to enrich and standardize product data so it’s accurate, complete, and optimized for discoverability, making it more likely to surface in search results and align with marketplace algorithms that influence product visibility and ranking.
Can scraped web data be exported into different formats?
Yes. Once web data is collected through scraping, it can be converted into structured formats such as CSV, JSON, and XML, or directly imported into tools like Excel or Google Sheets. This flexibility makes it easy for teams to audit product listings, analyze data, or prepare files for feed ingestion and optimization.
How does scraping fit into an efficient product data management workflow?
Web scraping plays a crucial role in an efficient product data management workflow, especially when used with a feed management platform. It enables retailers to automatically extract product information—like pricing, descriptions, and images—directly from websites when structured data exports or APIs aren’t available. A feed management platform like Feedonomics then transforms and optimizes this data for syndication across ecommerce channels, eliminating manual processes and ensuring feeds stay accurate and up to date.
How does Feedonomics compare to common scraping tools like Scrapy, Beautiful Soup, or Chrome extensions?
While open-source tools like Scrapy and Beautiful Soup offer flexibility for developers familiar with Python, they often require manual setup, custom scripting, and constant maintenance, especially when dealing with JavaScript-heavy sites or complex pagination. Chrome-based extensions and point-and-click tools can work for lightweight tasks, but typically fall short at scale.
Feedonomics, by contrast, is a fully managed platform purpose-built for ingesting product data from a wide range of sources—including websites, APIs, and flat files—and transforming it into optimized, channel-ready formats.
Feedonomics also supports real-time or scheduled synchronization of product data, making it ideal for keeping inventory, pricing data, and availability accurate across multiple sales channels. Unlike DIY tools, Feedonomics provides full-service support and automation at scale, freeing teams from the burden of ongoing technical upkeep.
Muhammed is a content marketing specialist creating informative content to help ecommerce professionals solve industry challenges and stay ahead of the curve.
