Choosing the right dataset source for your ecommerce strategy 

Data is fast becoming the backbone of strategic decision-making in the modern business landscape. With timely access to meaningful datasets, companies can track competitors, forecast market shifts, refine planning, and make data-informed moves that fuel sustainable growth.

Why manually track data when datasets exist? 

Sure, you could hire a full-time analyst to monitor online stores, scrape data from various websites, and compile reports. But in a world where structured data is widely available — why spend the time and money doing it manually? 

This is where datasets come in. These ready-to-use, structured data collections can save businesses hundreds of hours and provide scalable, repeatable, and accurate insights — often in real time or close to it. 

Example scenario: Monitoring competitors in the sports goods market 

Let’s imagine you run an online sports goods store and want to monitor your competitors. You’re particularly interested in extracting data from a specific retailer’s website (let’s call it XYZ.com) that includes: 

• Product name
• Category
• Brand
• Price
• Country of origin
• Material
• Available sizes
• Available colors

So, the question arises — where can you find this kind of structured product data? 

Public datasets of branded products (free, but limited) 

There are many publicly accessible ecommerce datasets available online, often published for academic research, benchmarking, or open data initiatives. These datasets may include products from popular brands and can serve as a great starting point for exploratory analysis. 

Example: 

UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository – Offers datasets like Online Retail or customer behavior logs that can be applied to ecommerce-related tasks. 

Benefits: 

• Free to use
• Easy to access
• Ideal for testing and proof-of-concept work 

Drawbacks: 

• Often outdated or based on historical data
• May not include current pricing, stock status, or specific store-level detail
• Typically anonymized or generalized — not tailored to a particular retailer like XYZ.com 

Use public datasets to validate hypotheses, train models, or explore initial ideas — but not for real-time business decisions. 

Marketplaces of data (curated, scalable, but costly) 

Data marketplaces offer centralized access to licensed, curated, and enterprise-grade datasets, perfect for companies working in cloud environments or building data-powered applications. 

Notable marketplaces: 

• AWS Data Exchange – Retail pricing, demand analytics, supply chain data
• Datarade – Connects buyers with global data vendors
• Google Cloud Public Datasets – Retail and behavioral data via BigQuery
• Azure Open Datasets – Includes consumer behavior and logistics-related data 

Pros: 

• License clarity & compliance
• Cloud-native integration
• Frequent updates
• Niche dataset availability 

Cons: 

• Cost: High-quality data is often subscription-based
• Customization limits: You get pre-defined fields
• Cloud expertise needed: Technical setup may be required
• Vendor lock-in: Tied to specific platforms or ecosystems 

Use marketplaces when you need trusted external data to augment internal analytics or support enterprise applications. 

APIs (structured, indirect access) 

While brands like Adidas may not offer public APIs for their own stores, you can indirectly access product data via large marketplaces that list their goods. 

Examples: 

• eBay Developer API 
• Amazon Product Advertising API
• Zalando API 

These APIs allow you to retrieve structured data, including pricing, product images, descriptions, and availability — often refreshed regularly. 

Ideal for: 

• Product feed ingestion
• App development
• Branded product monitoring at scale 

Third-party data providers (comprehensive, paid access) 

For businesses requiring large-scale, regularly updated, and store-specific data, third-party providers are a reliable option. These services are especially valuable for organizations that need highly customizable, country-specific, or category-specific datasets to power critical business decisions. 

Here are several examples of such providers: 

SSA Datasets  

SSA Group offers professional data extraction and aggregation services tailored to the ecommerce space. SSA Datasets specializes in ecommerce datasets organized by countries and product categories. You can select from several levels of granularity — purchase all countries, categories or brands, one country with all product categories or brands, or one specific category or brand within a selected country. 

Within a country, you can choose from different retailers and specify which ecommerce platforms you want data from. This can be narrowed even further to include all platforms, a subset, or just a single one — giving you full flexibility and control. 

SSA Datasets provides options for: 

• Delivery formats: CSV, JSON, XLS, XML
• Delivery methods: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Dropbox, Email, FTP, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive
• Update frequency: One-time, monthly, weekly, daily
• Custom data points: Brand, price, material, sizes, colors, and more 

You can also opt for a subscription plan to receive continuous updates — helping you track market trends in real time. Additionally, historical data (known as back-subscription) is available to support long-term trend analysis. 

Ideal for: 
Pricing intelligence, assortment optimization, competitor monitoring, and data-driven merchandising. 

Bright Data  

A leading web data platform offering enterprise-grade access to real-time web data from virtually any source. Their services include large-scale data collection infrastructure, pre-collected datasets, and customizable scraping solutions. 

Bright Data supports: 

• Automated data pipelines
• Real-time web data feeds
• Geo-targeted data collection
• Compliance-first crawling

Their robust platform makes it easy to pull structured data at scale — especially useful for companies in retail, travel, finance, and market research. 

ScrapeHero Data Store  

A marketplace offering pre-built datasets on millions of products, locations, and services across various industries. ScrapeHero’s Data Store includes one-time downloadable datasets and subscription options for ongoing updates. 

Available datasets include: 

• Store locations and contact information
• Store openings, store closures, parking availability, in-store pickup options, services
• Store subsidiaries
• Nearest competitor stores   

ScrapeHero also provides custom dataset development for niche use cases, including competitor tracking and industry-specific monitoring. 

These providers offer unparalleled data depth and flexibility, making them ideal for businesses that need store-level granularity, customizable structure, and regular updates. 

Whether you’re a retailer monitoring the competition, a consultant creating market reports, or an investor scanning price trends — third-party providers deliver the precision and reliability that off-the-shelf sources can’t match. 

Can AI generate datasets for you? 

With the rise of generative AI, it’s natural to wonder: Can I just ask an AI model to fetch this data for me? 

Technically, yes — AI can assist in generating and structuring data, but there are limitations: 

• AI can’t access real-time web data without integration with scrapers or APIs
• Volume is restricted by performance and cost constraints
• Web scraping involves technical hurdles like: CAPTCHA/reCAPTCHA challenges, IP rotation, Proxy setup, Anti-bot systems

In many cases, using AI alone for data collection isn’t feasible without combining it with robust data infrastructure. 

AI can be part of your pipeline, but it won’t replace reliable, structured data sources. 

So… How complete does your data need to be? 

This is the critical question to ask before choosing a data strategy. 

If you’re: 

• Testing ideas or building an MVP → Use public datasets
• Monitoring pricing on branded goods → Use APIs or data marketplaces
• Running a high-stakes, data-powered business → Go for third-party providers or custom pipelines 

The more specific and timely your data needs, the more robust your data infrastructure must be. 

Final thoughts: Let the data work for you 

Whether you’re launching a new product line, optimizing your pricing, or benchmarking competitors — data isn’t just support; it’s a strategic weapon. But choosing the right source can make all the difference between a smart decision and a shot in the dark. 

So, how do you pick the right option? 

• Just exploring or prototyping? → Public datasets are a good place to start
• Looking for structured access to branded goods? → APIs and data marketplaces can help
• Need complete control or niche customization? → Manual scraping or AI might do the trick — with effort

But if you’re serious about using data to drive growth, outsmart competitors, and make high-impact decisions, then there’s one choice that stands out: 

SSA Datasets: Your smartest data strategy 

SSA Datasets, offered by SSA Group, provides the most complete, accurate, and business-ready data solutions for ecommerce professionals.  

Whether you need pricing intelligence, competitor monitoring, market benchmarking, or all of the above — SSA Datasets gives you the precision, scale, and reliability your business deserves. 

Don’t just settle for what’s available. Get exactly what you need — at the quality your decisions demand. 

Ready to turn data into your competitive advantage? 

Start with SSA Datasets and experience what it’s like to work with data you can trust, scale you can count on, and insights that actually drive results. 

Learn more about SSA Datasets or request a consultation to discuss your specific data needs today.