AI monitoring in e-commerce protects against lost revenue. That's because those who recognise market changes quickly can adjust prices, campaigns and product ranges in good time.
When British retailer Asda unexpectedly lowered the prices of hundreds of food items in early 2025, the market was thrown into turmoil. The shares of competitor Tesco immediately fell, as did those of Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer.
A single competitor had changed the pace – and everyone else had to follow suit.
This example from the food retail sector shows how brutally speed determines success today.
And the same applies to e-commerce: if you only react when sales or shopping baskets decline, you are already too late.
When competitors launch discount campaigns
Suddenly, a competitor launches a new bundle offer or announces flash sales – and overnight, demand shifts. Customers compare prices, jump ship, and conversion rates drop.
The problem: many retailers only recognise market changes when they are clearly reflected in order numbers.
Without systematic monitoring in e-commerce, they react reactively – instead of strategically.
Competitive monitoring: why external factors are critical
Competitive campaigns have an immediate impact on day-to-day business:
- Discounts and bundles change price structures and margins in real time.
- Flash sales divert attention and traffic.
- Seasonal promotions shift demand curves and forecasts.
Without reliable AI monitoring in e-commerce, e-commerce retailers risk not only losing sales, but also making wrong decisions in campaigns and inventory planning.
And even if they collect the data, it is often not evaluated in a timely manner to allow for a timely response.
An analysis by Akin et al. (2024, Journal of Innovation and Knowledge) highlights that e-commerce companies often react too late to competitive promotions because decision-making processes and data analysis are not sufficiently automated.
Early monitoring through AI and data-driven analytics are cited as key factors in quickly identifying market changes and making adjustments to prices, product ranges or marketing – before noticeable effects on sales occur.
How retailers are currently responding – and why it's not enough
The reality in e-commerce often looks very different. Many companies rely on manual reports that take hours or days to produce.
But by the time these figures have been evaluated, the market has already moved on.
This is where human reaction speed reaches its limits. Effective monitoring in e-commerce today must be data-driven and automated – not retrospective, but real-time.
AI monitoring: early warning systems as an advantage
AI systems for anomaly detection such as INTELLIFANT can now help e-commerce retailers identify market changes – before the figures hit rock bottom.
They continuously analyse all order data and warn you when patterns suddenly change. This means you will no longer miss out when a competitor launches a discount campaign, for example, because you will receive an email as soon as an anomaly is detected in your order data.
This allows retailers to concentrate on their day-to-day business – and at the same time gain valuable time to adjust prices, campaigns or product ranges in a targeted manner as soon as a competitor ‘starts’ a discount war, for example.
Conclusion: AI monitoring – your ‘voluntary insurance’ in e-commerce
The Asda case shows how quickly markets can change. This is especially true in e-commerce: one competitor is enough to set demand, prices and customer expectations in motion.
With anomaly detection, you can spot such signals early on – and remain capable of acting while others are still analysing their data.
#ecommerce #earlywarning system #anomaly detection
