ecommerce.price-history-analyzer

IMPORTANT — Working Directory: All scripts in this skill MUST be executed with the working directory set to the absolute path of the directory containing this SKILL.md file (the skill root directory). Always cd into this directory before running any command. Do NOT use relative paths or shell shortcuts like ~ in paths, as they may not be resolved by the execution environment.

Price History Analyzer v1.1.0

Is there a price war? Are prices stable?

Analyze price wars, volatility, and Buy Box stability using Keepa historical data.

Core Questions

— Is there a price war? — Are prices stable? — Can I win the Buy Box?

Clarify or Infer Before Querying

• If ASIN is missing, ask for the ASIN or use product search to find candidate ASINs.
• Clarify marketplace and desired history window when relevant.
• Do not use only a product keyword for historical price analysis unless an ASIN can be resolved.

When to Use

• Evaluating market pricing stability before entry
• Assessing price war risk
• Understanding Buy Box competition
• Analyzing historical pricing trends

Differs From / Not Applicable

• Use price-monitor for recent/current price alerts and competitor changes.
• Use competitor-analyzer for broader competitor metrics.
• Use this skill for historical price trend, volatility, price wars, and Buy Box stability.

Data Source

Source	Endpoint	Data
Keepa	/api/v1/tools/research/keepa/productSeries	Buy Box history, BSR, ratings, monthly sold
NexScope Proxy	/api/v1/tools/research/amazon/search	Current product list

Keepa Data Fields

Field	Description
buyboxPrice	Historical Buy Box prices with timestamps
bsrSub	BSR ranking history by category
ratingCount	Review count history
monthlySold	Monthly sales history

Key Metrics

Metric	Description	Thresholds
Price War Score	Overall price war intensity (0-100)	< 25 LOW, 25-50 MODERATE, 50-75 HIGH, > 75 SEVERE
PVI (Price Volatility Index)	Standard deviation / mean × 100	< 5% LOW, 5-10% MEDIUM, 10-20% HIGH, > 20% EXTREME
Buy Box Stability	Changes per day	< 0.5 VERY_STABLE, 0.5-1 STABLE, 1-2 MODERATE, 2-5 UNSTABLE, > 5 CHAOTIC
Price Trend	Direction over time	RISING, STABLE, DECLINING, CRASHED

Price War Score Factors

Factor	Weight	Description
Volatility	35%	PVI contribution (max 35 points)
Trend	25%	Declining trend adds points
Price Drops	25%	Frequency of significant drops
Buy Box Instability	15%	Changes per day factor

Price War Levels

Level	Score	Signal	Action
🟢 LOW	0-25	Healthy pricing	Safe to enter
🟡 MODERATE	25-50	Some competition	Monitor weekly
🟠 HIGH	50-75	Active price war	Caution required
🔴 SEVERE	75-100	Intense price war	Avoid market

⚠️ MANDATORY: Charts & Display Rules

1. Generate charts by default for full analytical reports — use --chart with an output directory unless the user asks for a quick text-only result or chart data is unavailable.
2. Send generated charts to the user — when charts are created, share all chart PNGs immediately.
3. All chart styling is driven by ecommerce_chart_helpers.py which reads from chart_style.json (derived from references/display-rules.md). Do NOT hardcode colors in scripts.

Usage

# Analyze by keyword
python3 scripts/price_history_analyzer.py '{"keyword": "face wash"}'

# Analyze specific ASIN
python3 scripts/price_history_analyzer.py '{"asin": "B07RL88DD2"}'

# Different market
python3 scripts/price_history_analyzer.py '{"keyword": "yoga mat", "market": "UK"}'

# With chart output
python3 scripts/price_history_analyzer.py '{"keyword": "face wash"}' --chart /tmp/output

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
keyword	string	-	Search keyword
asin	string	-	Specific ASIN to analyze
market	string		Marketplace (US/UK/DE/FR/CA/JP)

Output Structure

{
 "keyword": "face wash",
 "market": "US",
 "analysis_date2026-04-09",
 "products_analyzed": 5,
 "price_analysis": {
 "data_points": 265,
 "period_days": 90,
 "current_price": 7.49,
 "min_price": 5.36,
 "max_price": 7.49,
 "avg_price": 6.82,
 "std_dev": 0.42,
 "pvi": 6.1,
 "volatility_levelLOW",
 "price_changes_count": 15,
 "price_drops": 3,
 "price_increases": 5,
 "trend_pct": 2.1,
 "trend_directionSTABLE"
 },
 "buybox_analysis": {
 "stabilityMODERATE",
 "stability_score": 50,
 "total_changes": 54,
 "changes_per_day": 1.8,
 "outages": 2,
 "outage_pct": 3.7
 },
 "price_war_score": {
 "score": 9,
 "levelLOW",
 : "🟢",
 : {
 "volatility": 9,
 "trend": 0,
 "price_drops": 0,
 "buybox_instability": 0
 }
 },
 "insights": {
 "summary🟢 Healthy pricing. Score 9, volatility 6.1%. Safe market.",
 "assessments": [...],
 "recommendations": [...]
 }
}

Charts Generated

Chart	Description	File
Price History	Line chart with trend	1_price_history.png
Price War Score	Gauge visualization	2_price_war_score.png
Volatility & Buy Box	Side-by-side summary	3_volatility_buybox.png

Insights Generated

Insight	Trigger
Healthy Pricing	Score < 25
Moderate Competition	Score 25-50
Active Price War	Score 50-75
Severe Price War	Score > 75
High Volatility	PVI > 15%
Low Volatility	PVI < 5%
Downward Trend	Declining direction
Upward Trend	Rising direction
Buy Box Chaotic	Stability = CHAOTIC
Buy Box Stable	Stability = VERY_STABLE

Recommendations

Situation	Recommendation
Score < 25	Normal competitive strategy viable
Score 25-50	Monitor prices weekly, build margin buffer
Score > 50	Avoid price competition, differentiate on value
Declining trend	Factor declining prices into margin calculations
Organic > 90%	Competitor relies on organic — vulnerable to PPC attack
Organic < 50%	Competitor heavily PPC-dependent — may have weak organic

Workflow Integration

📊 Validation Phase
├── demand-validator → Validate demand is real
├── price-history-analyzer → Check for price wars ← YOU ARE HERE
└── product-validator → Validate product data

Limitations

• Keepa data availability varies by ASIN
• Historical data typically 90 days
• API calls consume Keepa tokens
• Category cleaner applied (may reduce sample size)

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
NEXSCOPE_PROXY_BASE	Yes	NexScope proxy base URL
NEXSCOPE_API_KEY	Yes	NexScope proxy API key

References

• references/display-rules.md — Chart styling guidelines