Should I Build It Should I Build It
03 Jun 2025
E-Commerce

Price tracker - an app where you put links for products and their ...

...prices are tracked, you get notified whenever the product is discounted

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

You're entering a crowded market for price trackers, an area we categorize as a 'Swamp.' This means there are already several solutions available, but none have truly captured the hearts of users. With 22 similar products identified, competition is high. While some users express interest in these types of tools, the average engagement is low, with only 2 comments per product launch. We did not see any strong buy or use signals in the comments of the existing products.. This suggests that while the idea is not bad, you'll need a unique angle to differentiate yourself and gain traction. Essentially, you need to figure out why existing solutions haven't become indispensable to users.

Recommendations

  1. Deeply research existing price trackers to understand their limitations. Don't just look at features; focus on user reviews and identify pain points. What are people complaining about? Where do existing solutions fall short? For example, some similar products received criticism for security concerns (invalid certificate and not using HTTPS). Understand if there are niches these apps aren't serving well.
  2. Consider focusing on a specific niche or platform. Instead of a general price tracker, target a particular product category (e.g., electronics, clothing) or a specific e-commerce platform (e.g., Etsy, Amazon). AT Price Tracker, for example, focuses on AutoTrader UK. Specialization can help you stand out and provide a more tailored user experience.
  3. Explore integrations with existing services or platforms. Instead of building a standalone app, create a plugin or extension for popular browsers or e-commerce platforms. This could lower the barrier to entry and leverage existing user bases. Notice that most products with user traction are browser extensions.
  4. Prioritize user experience and ease of use. Many users appreciate simplicity and intuitiveness. Make sure your app is easy to set up, understand, and use. Focus on a clean interface and clear instructions. A similar product was criticized for a bad search functionality, indicating the importance of usability.
  5. Implement robust notification settings. Allow users to customize the types of price drops they're notified about (e.g., percentage discount, specific price threshold). Provide options for notification delivery (e.g., email, push notifications). This ensures users only receive relevant alerts.
  6. Address security concerns from the outset. Ensure your app uses HTTPS and has a valid certificate to protect user data. Be transparent about your data privacy practices and comply with relevant regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA). Prioritize user trust.
  7. Before launching, conduct thorough testing to identify and fix bugs and usability issues. Gather feedback from beta users and iterate on your design based on their input. Aim for a polished and reliable product that users will love.
  8. Consider adjacent problems that might be more promising, or if you could pivot to building tools for existing price tracking providers instead. This can provide access to a market and customer base without being in direct competition.

Questions

  1. Given the number of existing price trackers, what is your specific plan to achieve a better user experience, and what specific metrics will you use to measure this improvement?
  2. How will you differentiate your price tracker in terms of the data sources you use, and what specific strategies will you employ to ensure data accuracy and reliability, especially when tracking smaller e-commerce sites?
  3. Considering the low engagement observed in similar products, what are your concrete plans for building a community around your price tracker, and how will you ensure users actively engage with the platform over time?

Your are here

You're entering a crowded market for price trackers, an area we categorize as a 'Swamp.' This means there are already several solutions available, but none have truly captured the hearts of users. With 22 similar products identified, competition is high. While some users express interest in these types of tools, the average engagement is low, with only 2 comments per product launch. We did not see any strong buy or use signals in the comments of the existing products.. This suggests that while the idea is not bad, you'll need a unique angle to differentiate yourself and gain traction. Essentially, you need to figure out why existing solutions haven't become indispensable to users.

Recommendations

  1. Deeply research existing price trackers to understand their limitations. Don't just look at features; focus on user reviews and identify pain points. What are people complaining about? Where do existing solutions fall short? For example, some similar products received criticism for security concerns (invalid certificate and not using HTTPS). Understand if there are niches these apps aren't serving well.
  2. Consider focusing on a specific niche or platform. Instead of a general price tracker, target a particular product category (e.g., electronics, clothing) or a specific e-commerce platform (e.g., Etsy, Amazon). AT Price Tracker, for example, focuses on AutoTrader UK. Specialization can help you stand out and provide a more tailored user experience.
  3. Explore integrations with existing services or platforms. Instead of building a standalone app, create a plugin or extension for popular browsers or e-commerce platforms. This could lower the barrier to entry and leverage existing user bases. Notice that most products with user traction are browser extensions.
  4. Prioritize user experience and ease of use. Many users appreciate simplicity and intuitiveness. Make sure your app is easy to set up, understand, and use. Focus on a clean interface and clear instructions. A similar product was criticized for a bad search functionality, indicating the importance of usability.
  5. Implement robust notification settings. Allow users to customize the types of price drops they're notified about (e.g., percentage discount, specific price threshold). Provide options for notification delivery (e.g., email, push notifications). This ensures users only receive relevant alerts.
  6. Address security concerns from the outset. Ensure your app uses HTTPS and has a valid certificate to protect user data. Be transparent about your data privacy practices and comply with relevant regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA). Prioritize user trust.
  7. Before launching, conduct thorough testing to identify and fix bugs and usability issues. Gather feedback from beta users and iterate on your design based on their input. Aim for a polished and reliable product that users will love.
  8. Consider adjacent problems that might be more promising, or if you could pivot to building tools for existing price tracking providers instead. This can provide access to a market and customer base without being in direct competition.

Questions

  1. Given the number of existing price trackers, what is your specific plan to achieve a better user experience, and what specific metrics will you use to measure this improvement?
  2. How will you differentiate your price tracker in terms of the data sources you use, and what specific strategies will you employ to ensure data accuracy and reliability, especially when tracking smaller e-commerce sites?
  3. Considering the low engagement observed in similar products, what are your concrete plans for building a community around your price tracker, and how will you ensure users actively engage with the platform over time?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 22
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 2
  • Net use signal: 38.2%
    • Positive use signal: 38.2%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 5.3%
    • Positive buy signal: 5.3%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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