E-Commerce Price Tracker System Requirements Document

Introduction

The E-Commerce Price Tracker project aims to develop a system that can efficiently scrape e-commerce websites for price data and perform SQL-based data analysis. This project is designed to help users track price changes and analyze trends over time.

System Overview

The E-Commerce Price Tracker will consist of two main components: a web scraping module to collect price data from various e-commerce platforms and a data analysis module to process and analyze the collected data using SQL. The system will provide insights into price trends and fluctuations, enabling users to make informed purchasing decisions.

Functional Requirements as Story Points

• As a User, I should be able to input a list of e-commerce websites to track prices.
• As a User, I should be able to specify the products I want to track on each website.
• As a User, I should be able to schedule regular scraping intervals for data collection.
• As a User, I should be able to view historical price data in a tabular format.
• As a User, I should be able to perform SQL queries to analyze price trends.
• As a User, I should be able to receive alerts when prices drop below a specified threshold.
• As a User, I should be able to export analysis results to a CSV file.

User Personas

• Regular User: Interested in tracking prices for personal shopping and receiving alerts for price drops.
• Data Analyst: Focused on performing in-depth analysis of price trends and generating reports.

Core User Flows

• User inputs e-commerce websites and products -> System scrapes data at scheduled intervals -> User views historical data -> User performs SQL analysis -> User receives alerts for price changes.

Visuals Colors and Theme

• primary: #FF5733 (a vibrant orange to reflect urgency and attention)
• primary_light: #FF8A66 (a lighter tint of orange for hover states)
• secondary: #333333 (a neutral dark grey for text and secondary elements)
• accent: #FFC300 (a bright yellow for call-to-action buttons and highlights)
• highlight: #DAF7A6 (a soft green for notifications and active states)
• bg: #FFFFFF (a clean white background for clarity)
• surface: #F2F2F2 (a light grey for card and panel backgrounds)
• text: #000000 (black for primary text)
• text_muted: #666666 (a muted grey for secondary text and labels)
• border: #CCCCCC (a subtle grey for borders)

Signature Design Concept

The homepage will feature an interactive price trend graph that users can manipulate. As users hover over different points on the graph, detailed price information and trends will appear dynamically. The graph will be built using motion/react for smooth transitions and interactions. The landing page will also include a dynamic animation of a shopping cart filling up with products as prices drop, symbolizing savings. This will be achieved using gsap for animations.

Landing Hero Motion Brief

The hero section will depict a digital shopping cart that fills with products as prices drop. The animation will show products entering the cart, with price tags visibly changing from high to low. This loop will run continuously, with the option for users to interact by clicking on products to view detailed price history. The animation will be responsive and adjust to different screen sizes, ensuring a seamless experience across devices.

Interaction Model & Motion Direction

The landing page will utilize an "animated" interaction model, featuring moderate scroll-triggered reveals and hover transitions. This will provide a polished and engaging user experience, with spring physics applied to interactive elements for added responsiveness.

Non-Functional Requirements

• The system must handle high volumes of data efficiently.
• The web scraping module must comply with legal and ethical standards.
• The system must ensure data privacy and security.
• The user interface must be responsive and accessible.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React for Web
• Backend: Python with FastAPI
• Database: MySQL for SQL data analysis
• Web Scraping: Python libraries such as BeautifulSoup and Scrapy
• Containerization: Docker for local orchestration

Assumptions and Constraints

• The system assumes access to public e-commerce websites for data scraping.
• The system is constrained by the legal limitations of web scraping.
• The system assumes users have basic knowledge of SQL for data analysis.

Glossary

• Web Scraping: The process of extracting data from websites.
• SQL: Structured Query Language, used for managing and analyzing data in relational databases.
• E-Commerce: Commercial transactions conducted electronically on the internet.