4 Python Scripts That Monitor Your Business While You Sleep

#python #automation #webdev #business

Want to know what your competitors are charging? Or when a supplier changes their prices? Python can monitor the web for you 24/7 — here's how.

Why Automate Competitive Intelligence?

Manually checking competitor prices, tracking news mentions, and monitoring supplier sites is time-consuming and inconsistent. A Python script can do it while you sleep.

Here are 4 real scripts I use in my business:

Script 1: Competitor Price Monitor

import httpx
import sqlite3
import smtplib
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
from datetime import datetime
import schedule

def check_competitor_price(url, css_selector, competitor_name):
    headers = {
        'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36'
    }

    resp = httpx.get(url, headers=headers, timeout=15)
    soup = BeautifulSoup(resp.content, 'html.parser')

    price_element = soup.select_one(css_selector)
    if not price_element:
        print(f"Warning: Could not find price for {competitor_name}")
        return None

    # Extract number from price text like "$29.99" or "€45,00"
    price_text = price_element.get_text(strip=True)
    price = float(''.join(c for c in price_text if c.isdigit() or c == '.'))

    # Store in database
    conn = sqlite3.connect('competitor_prices.db')
    conn.execute('''CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS prices
                   (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, competitor TEXT, price REAL, 
                    url TEXT, checked_at TIMESTAMP)''')
    conn.execute('INSERT INTO prices VALUES (NULL, ?, ?, ?, ?)',
                (competitor_name, price, url, datetime.now()))

    # Check if price changed
    cursor = conn.execute('''
        SELECT price FROM prices 
        WHERE competitor = ? 
        ORDER BY checked_at DESC 
        LIMIT 2
    ''', (competitor_name,))
    prices = [row[0] for row in cursor.fetchall()]

    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

    if len(prices) == 2 and prices[0] != prices[1]:
        send_price_alert(competitor_name, prices[1], prices[0])

    return price

def send_price_alert(competitor, old_price, new_price):
    change = ((new_price - old_price) / old_price) * 100
    direction = "⬆️ increased" if new_price > old_price else "⬇️ decreased"

    message = f"""
    PRICE ALERT: {competitor} {direction}!

    Old price: ${old_price:.2f}
    New price: ${new_price:.2f}
    Change: {change:+.1f}%

    Time to review your own pricing?
    """

    # Send email alert (see email automation article)
    print(f"ALERT: {competitor} price changed from ${old_price:.2f} to ${new_price:.2f}")

# Configure your competitors
COMPETITORS = [
    {
        "name": "Competitor A",
        "url": "https://competitora.com/product",
        "selector": ".price .amount"
    },
    {
        "name": "Competitor B", 
        "url": "https://competitorb.com/pricing",
        "selector": "#basic-plan-price"
    }
]

def run_price_checks():
    for comp in COMPETITORS:
        price = check_competitor_price(comp['url'], comp['selector'], comp['name'])
        if price:
            print(f"{comp['name']}: ${price:.2f}")

# Check twice daily
schedule.every().day.at("09:00").do(run_price_checks)
schedule.every().day.at("17:00").do(run_price_checks)

Script 2: Google Mentions Monitor

Know when your brand (or competitors) is mentioned online:

import httpx
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import urllib.parse

def check_google_mentions(keyword, days_back=1):
    # Use Google News RSS - no API key needed
    encoded = urllib.parse.quote(keyword)
    url = f"https://news.google.com/rss/search?q={encoded}&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en"

    resp = httpx.get(url, timeout=15)

    import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
    root = ET.fromstring(resp.content)

    cutoff = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=days_back)
    recent_items = []

    for item in root.findall('.//item'):
        title = item.find('title').text if item.find('title') is not None else ''
        link = item.find('link').text if item.find('link') is not None else ''
        pub_date_str = item.find('pubDate').text if item.find('pubDate') is not None else ''

        # Parse date and filter recent
        try:
            from email.utils import parsedate_to_datetime
            pub_date = parsedate_to_datetime(pub_date_str)
            if pub_date.replace(tzinfo=None) > cutoff:
                recent_items.append({'title': title, 'link': link, 'date': pub_date_str})
        except:
            recent_items.append({'title': title, 'link': link, 'date': pub_date_str})

    return recent_items

def daily_mentions_report():
    keywords = ["Your Brand Name", "Competitor Name", "Your Product Name"]

    report = f"📰 Daily Mentions Report — {datetime.now().strftime('%B %d, %Y')}\n\n"

    for keyword in keywords:
        mentions = check_google_mentions(keyword)
        report += f"## {keyword} ({len(mentions)} mentions)\n"
        for m in mentions[:5]:  # Top 5
            report += f"  • {m['title']}\n    {m['link']}\n"
        report += "\n"

    print(report)
    # Or email it: send_email("you@email.com", "Daily Mentions", report)

schedule.every().day.at("08:00").do(daily_mentions_report)

Script 3: Supplier Stock Tracker

Never get caught off-guard when a supplier runs out:

def check_supplier_stock(product_url, product_name, selector):
    headers = {'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; StockChecker/1.0)'}

    resp = httpx.get(product_url, headers=headers, timeout=15)
    soup = BeautifulSoup(resp.content, 'html.parser')

    # Look for out-of-stock indicators
    page_text = soup.get_text().lower()

    out_of_stock_phrases = [
        'out of stock', 'sold out', 'unavailable', 
        'currently unavailable', 'notify me'
    ]

    is_out_of_stock = any(phrase in page_text for phrase in out_of_stock_phrases)

    # Check quantity field
    qty_element = soup.select_one(selector)
    if qty_element:
        qty_text = qty_element.get_text()
        qty = int(''.join(c for c in qty_text if c.isdigit()) or '0')
        is_low = qty < 10
    else:
        is_low = False

    status = {
        "product": product_name,
        "url": product_url,
        "in_stock": not is_out_of_stock,
        "checked_at": datetime.now().isoformat()
    }

    if is_out_of_stock:
        alert_msg = f"🚨 {product_name} is OUT OF STOCK at supplier!"
        print(alert_msg)
        # send_email("you@email.com", "Stock Alert!", alert_msg)
    elif is_low:
        print(f"⚠️  {product_name} is LOW STOCK — order soon")

    return status

Script 4: Job/Contract Board Monitor

Find new contract opportunities before the competition:

def monitor_upwork_rss(keywords):
    for keyword in keywords:
        encoded = urllib.parse.quote(keyword)
        url = f"https://www.upwork.com/ab/feed/jobs/rss?q={encoded}&sort=recency"

        resp = httpx.get(url, headers={'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0'}, timeout=15)

        import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
        try:
            root = ET.fromstring(resp.content)
            jobs = []
            for item in root.findall('.//item')[:10]:
                title = item.find('title').text or ''
                link = item.find('link').text or ''
                description = item.find('description').text or ''
                jobs.append({'title': title, 'link': link, 'snippet': description[:200]})

            print(f"\n{keyword}: {len(jobs)} new jobs")
            for job in jobs[:3]:
                print(f"  • {job['title']}")
                print(f"    {job['link']}")
        except ET.ParseError:
            print(f"Could not parse feed for: {keyword}")

monitor_upwork_rss(["python automation", "python scripting", "business automation"])

Running All Scripts Together

import schedule
import time

# Price monitoring - twice daily
schedule.every().day.at("09:00").do(run_price_checks)
schedule.every().day.at("17:00").do(run_price_checks)

# News monitoring - every morning
schedule.every().day.at("08:00").do(daily_mentions_report)

# Stock checking - every 4 hours during business hours
for hour in ['09:00', '13:00', '17:00']:
    schedule.every().day.at(hour).do(lambda: check_supplier_stock(
        "https://supplier.com/product", "Widget A", ".stock-count"
    ))

print("Business intelligence bot running...")
while True:
    schedule.run_pending()
    time.sleep(60)

Install Requirements

pip install httpx beautifulsoup4 schedule

The Full Toolkit

These 4 scripts save me about 5 hours per week on manual research and monitoring. They're part of my Python Business Automation Toolkit — a collection of 5 production-ready scripts for small business owners.

Each script includes: