Competitor Price Monitoring with Web Scraping, Google Sheets & Telegram

This n8n workflow automates the process of monitoring competitor prices from a website, recording them in Google Sheets, and alerting you via Telegram when prices change.

It's designed to help businesses stay competitive by providing real-time insights into market pricing.

What it does:

1. Triggers on a Schedule: The workflow runs automatically at predefined intervals (e.g., daily, hourly) to check for updates.
2. Scrapes Website Data: It makes an HTTP request to a specified URL (presumably a competitor's product page) and extracts relevant price information using the HTML node.
3. Processes Data in Batches: If multiple items are scraped, it processes them in batches to manage the flow efficiently.
4. Retrieves Existing Prices from Google Sheets: For each scraped item, it fetches the current price record from a designated Google Sheet.
5. Compares Prices: It uses a Code node to compare the newly scraped price with the price stored in Google Sheets.
6. Updates Google Sheets:
   • If a price has changed, it updates the corresponding row in Google Sheets with the new price and the timestamp of the change.
   • If the item is new, it adds a new row to the Google Sheet.
7. Sends Telegram Alerts: If a price change is detected, a notification is sent to a specified Telegram chat, including details of the product and the price change.
8. Includes a Wait Step: A brief pause is included in the loop to prevent overwhelming the target website or API with requests.

Prerequisites/Requirements:

• n8n Instance: A running n8n instance.
• Google Sheets Account: A Google account with access to Google Sheets. You will need to create a spreadsheet to store your product and price data.
• Telegram Account: A Telegram account and a bot token for sending notifications.
• Website to Scrape: The URL of the competitor's product page(s) you wish to monitor.
• n8n Credentials:
  • Google Sheets API credentials (OAuth2 or Service Account).
  • Telegram Bot API Token.

Setup/Usage:

1. Import the Workflow: Import the provided JSON into your n8n instance.
2. Configure Credentials:
   • Google Sheets Node (ID: 18): Configure your Google Sheets credentials. Ensure the service account or OAuth credentials have read/write access to your target spreadsheet.
   • Telegram Node (ID: 49): Configure your Telegram Bot API Token and specify the Chat ID where you want to receive alerts.
3. Customize the Schedule Trigger (ID: 839): Adjust the "Schedule Trigger" node to define how often the workflow should run (e.g., every 1 hour, once a day).
4. Configure the HTTP Request Node (ID: 19):
   • Set the URL to the competitor's product page you want to scrape.
   • You might need to adjust headers or other request options depending on the website's configuration.
5. Configure the HTML Node (ID: 842):
   • Define the CSS selectors to extract the product name, price, and any other relevant information from the HTML response.
6. Configure the Google Sheets Node (ID: 18):
   • Specify the Spreadsheet ID and Sheet Name where your product data is stored and will be updated.
   • Ensure the column headers in your Google Sheet match the data keys expected by the workflow (e.g., productName, currentPrice).
7. Review the Code Node (ID: 834): This node contains the logic for comparing prices and determining if an update or new entry is needed. You may need to adjust the logic based on your specific data structure and comparison requirements.
8. Activate the Workflow: Once configured, activate the workflow to start monitoring competitor prices.

This workflow provides a robust foundation for automated competitor price monitoring, helping you stay informed and react quickly to market changes.