Competitor tracking, in plain English.

AI software that acts on someone’s behalf: browsing websites, comparing products, filling in forms and, increasingly, completing purchases. Ghost Watch uses agents to collect competitor data the way a shopper would see it.

The few products an AI shopping assistant recommends in answer to a shopping question. Like a store shelf, it has room for only a few products, and shoppers rarely look beyond it.

Read more: The AI shelf

An AI tool such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google’s AI Mode that answers shopping questions (“best trail shoe under $130?”) with a short list of recommended products and reasons.

Read more: How AI shopping assistants choose products

The full range of products a store offers, including sizes, colors and bundles. Watching a competitor’s assortment shows launches, discontinued lines and gaps you could fill.

A discount that appears only once a product is in the cart or a code is entered, such as “15% off your first order” or “buy two, save 10%”. Trackers that only read product pages miss it.

A page an AI assistant names or links to as the basis for its answer, such as a review site or a retailer’s product page. Citations show which sources shape the recommendations.

Read more: How AI shopping assistants choose products

The short list of competitors that your customers actually compare you with. A good competitive set mixes direct rivals, marketplaces and the retailers that stock your own products.

Read more: Competitor price monitoring

All the places online where shoppers discover, compare and buy products: your store, marketplaces, retailers’ sites, search results and now AI assistants’ answers.

Setting prices that change frequently in response to demand, stock levels, time or competitor prices, rather than fixed price lists.

The minimum order value at which a store stops charging for shipping, such as “free shipping over $50”. Changing it can matter to customers as much as a price cut.

Read more: Landed price vs list price

Work to make AI assistants find, understand and recommend a brand or product, similar to search engine optimization (SEO) for search results. Also called AI search optimization.

Ghost Watch’s way of ordering alerts: each competitor change is weighed by how many of your products it touches, how well those products sell and how far it moves your price position, so the changes that matter most come first.

The total a customer pays to get a product delivered: the item price plus shipping, handling and other fees, minus cart discounts, and sometimes plus sales tax. Two stores with the same list price can have very different landed prices.

Read more: Landed price vs list price

The price shown on a product or category page. Most price trackers compare list prices, which can hide differences in shipping, fees and discounts applied in the cart.

Read more: Landed price vs list price

When a reseller advertises a product below the minimum advertised price in the brand’s policy. Brands usually respond under the terms of their own policy, for example with a warning, then by pausing supply.

Read more: MAP policies explained

A policy in which a brand sets the lowest price at which its resellers may advertise a product. It usually doesn’t control the price a reseller actually sells at. How MAP policies can be set and enforced depends on the country, so brands should take legal advice.

Read more: MAP policies explained

How strongly demand for a product responds to a change in its price. A product is price-elastic if a small price change moves sales a lot. Elasticity helps decide which competitor price cuts are worth answering.

Read more: How to respond to a competitor price cut

A single number that compares your prices with your competitors’ across matched products. For example, an index of 105 means you’re 5% more expensive on average. It’s most useful when weighted by how much each product sells.

Read more: Competitor price monitoring

Where your price sits among competitors for the same product, such as cheapest, within 5% of the cheapest, or most expensive. Many brands pick a target position for each product line.

A cycle in which competitors keep cutting prices in response to each other, eroding margins for everyone, often without changing market share much.

Read more: How to respond to a competitor price cut

A file or data connection listing your products with titles, prices, availability and other details, which shopping and AI platforms use to show your products accurately.

Working out which competitor product is the same as, or the closest alternative to, each of yours. Exact matches share a barcode or model number; close matches are similar products a shopper would weigh against yours.

Read more: Competitor price monitoring

A timeline of a competitor’s promotions: sitewide sales, discount codes, free-shipping events and seasonal campaigns. Over a year it shows their patterns, so you can plan around them.

Read more: How to track competitor promotions

The record of where a piece of data came from: the page, the time it was collected and, for prices, the delivery location used. In Ghost Watch every number shows its provenance, so you can check it.

Updating your prices in response to competitor prices or other signals. Automatic repricing tools change prices by rules, such as “stay 1% below the cheapest”, which can trigger a price war if every seller uses them.

A file at the root of a website (/robots.txt) that tells automated visitors which pages they may and may not crawl, defined by the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309). Ghost Watch follows it.

Read more: How Ghost Watch collects data

The share of AI assistants’ answers to a set of shopping questions that recommend your brand or product. Because answers vary, it’s measured by asking each question several times.

Read more: How to measure your share of the AI shelf

When a product sells out and can’t be ordered. A competitor’s stock-out can be a chance to win their customers, as long as your own stock and delivery promise hold up.

A seller, often on a marketplace, offering a brand’s products without being one of its approved retailers. Unauthorized resellers often ignore MAP policies and can undercut a brand’s own store.

A proposed internet standard in which bots and AI agents cryptographically sign their requests, so websites can verify who is visiting instead of trusting a name that anyone could copy.

Read more: How Ghost Watch collects data