Study: Price volatility basics in EU e-commerce
Goal
This study outlines a simple approach to quantify price volatility and detect promo cycles using publicly visible webshop data.
Metrics you can compute weekly
- Change frequency: number of price changes per SKU
- Volatility: average % change magnitude
- Promo cadence: repeat pattern of discount windows
- Shipping impact: effective total cost vs. sticker price
What this enables
- Detect categories with price wars
- Identify “quiet” categories where you can hold margin
- Understand competitor discount rhythms
Data sources
Only public product pages are required (price, stock, shipping info when visible).
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