Imperva Case Studies Europe’s Top Ecommerce Beauty Retailer Puts an End to Web Scraping with Imperva Bot Management

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	Europe’s Top Ecommerce Beauty Retailer Puts an End to Web Scraping with Imperva Bot Management Imperva

Europe’s Top Ecommerce Beauty Retailer Puts an End to Web Scraping with Imperva Bot Management

Imperva

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries	Cement Construction & Infrastructure
Applicable Functions	Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases	Chatbots Traffic Monitoring
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Challenge	One of Europe’s largest independent online beauty retailers was facing a serious issue with web scraping. The retailer suspected that its competitors were using advanced bots to scrape pricing and inventory data from its website, allowing them to match prices and products quickly. The retailer noticed that a lot of its traffic was not from real users but from competitors spying on them. The reaction time to changes made on their website was too quick to be human, indicating the use of bots. The retailer's solutions developer found a lot of bot traffic on the site, some of which could be traced back to the static IP of their competitors’ offices. Initially, the retailer tried to block the bad bots manually, but this turned into an endless game of whack-a-mole as the bots started spoofing the headers and it became difficult to determine whether an address was genuine or not. The task became more and more time-consuming, and soon they were spending a day and a half every week checking for bots. Read More
About Customer	The customer in this case study is one of Europe’s largest independent online beauty retailers. They offer thousands of products across a broad range of brands. The retailer was facing a serious issue with web scraping, with competitors using advanced bots to scrape pricing and inventory data from its website. This allowed the competitors to match prices and products quickly, undercutting the retailer in the market in real-time. The retailer's primary eCommerce website is hosted in the Microsoft Azure Cloud, and they needed a solution that would route traffic through using a DNS and let someone else host it, while also working with a CNAME rather than an IP address. Read More
Solution	The retailer sought the help of Imperva (formerly Distil Networks) to stop the malicious bots from scraping the site’s data. The retailer's requirements for a solution were that it had to be able to filter all traffic quickly by routing traffic through a DNS and it needed to be plug-and-play, so the team wouldn’t have to devote a lot of time or IT resources for deployment and ongoing management. As their primary eCommerce website is hosted in the Microsoft Azure Cloud, an appliance-based solution wasn’t a viable option. They needed a solution that would route traffic through using a DNS and let someone else host it. The retailer’s cloud infrastructure also required that the solution work with a CNAME rather than an IP address. The retailer engaged with Imperva in a trial, and the number of bots that came across the site was dramatically reduced. They moved forward with a full implementation and were up and running quickly. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Applicable Industries

Cement

Construction & Infrastructure

Applicable Functions

Warehouse & Inventory Management

Use Cases

Chatbots

Traffic Monitoring

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Challenge

One of Europe’s largest independent online beauty retailers was facing a serious issue with web scraping. The retailer suspected that its competitors were using advanced bots to scrape pricing and inventory data from its website, allowing them to match prices and products quickly. The retailer noticed that a lot of its traffic was not from real users but from competitors spying on them. The reaction time to changes made on their website was too quick to be human, indicating the use of bots. The retailer's solutions developer found a lot of bot traffic on the site, some of which could be traced back to the static IP of their competitors’ offices. Initially, the retailer tried to block the bad bots manually, but this turned into an endless game of whack-a-mole as the bots started spoofing the headers and it became difficult to determine whether an address was genuine or not. The task became more and more time-consuming, and soon they were spending a day and a half every week checking for bots.

About Customer

The customer in this case study is one of Europe’s largest independent online beauty retailers. They offer thousands of products across a broad range of brands. The retailer was facing a serious issue with web scraping, with competitors using advanced bots to scrape pricing and inventory data from its website. This allowed the competitors to match prices and products quickly, undercutting the retailer in the market in real-time. The retailer's primary eCommerce website is hosted in the Microsoft Azure Cloud, and they needed a solution that would route traffic through using a DNS and let someone else host it, while also working with a CNAME rather than an IP address.

Solution

The retailer sought the help of Imperva (formerly Distil Networks) to stop the malicious bots from scraping the site’s data. The retailer's requirements for a solution were that it had to be able to filter all traffic quickly by routing traffic through a DNS and it needed to be plug-and-play, so the team wouldn’t have to devote a lot of time or IT resources for deployment and ongoing management. As their primary eCommerce website is hosted in the Microsoft Azure Cloud, an appliance-based solution wasn’t a viable option. They needed a solution that would route traffic through using a DNS and let someone else host it. The retailer’s cloud infrastructure also required that the solution work with a CNAME rather than an IP address. The retailer engaged with Imperva in a trial, and the number of bots that came across the site was dramatically reduced. They moved forward with a full implementation and were up and running quickly.

Impact #1	Since the online beauty retailer implemented Imperva Bot Management, malicious bots are blocked before they enter the site, preventing competitors from lifting pricing, inventory and availability data. The service has enabled the Dev team to make site changes without causing latency or disrupting the user experience. The retailer's Dev team is now back to its core responsibility: delivering features for the website. They are confident they have a solid solution for bot detection and mitigation, and after implementation, they were able to move on. The solutions developer concluded, “The Managing Director walked in the office a few days after we implemented Imperva, and he was smiling. That was a happy day for me.”

Impact #1

Since the online beauty retailer implemented Imperva Bot Management, malicious bots are blocked before they enter the site, preventing competitors from lifting pricing, inventory and availability data. The service has enabled the Dev team to make site changes without causing latency or disrupting the user experience. The retailer's Dev team is now back to its core responsibility: delivering features for the website. They are confident they have a solid solution for bot detection and mitigation, and after implementation, they were able to move on. The solutions developer concluded, “The Managing Director walked in the office a few days after we implemented Imperva, and he was smiling. That was a happy day for me.”

Benefit #1	Reduced site errors and latency, lowering bounce rates
Benefit #2	Saved on server resources and provided users better response times by eliminating bad bot traffic, cutting server resource needs by 22%
Benefit #3	Automated and offloaded bot detection, saving a day and a half per week in IT resources

Benefit #1

Reduced site errors and latency, lowering bounce rates

Benefit #2

Saved on server resources and provided users better response times by eliminating bad bot traffic, cutting server resource needs by 22%

Benefit #3

Automated and offloaded bot detection, saving a day and a half per week in IT resources

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Overview

Europe’s Top Ecommerce Beauty Retailer Puts an End to Web Scraping with Imperva Bot Management

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit