Data Purl
  • Platform
    • Coverage400+ retailers across the US, UK, Europe and Asia, history back to 2013
    • Shelf IndicesFree monthly price and discount indices by category and country
    • Brand headlinesQuarterly prices and markdowns for 84 consumer brands
    • Custom dataResearched extracts scoped to your sectors, brands and dates
    • MethodologyHow we collect, classify and map brands to 1,900+ listed companies
    • ValidationCollection success, quality screens and backtests
    • Not sure what you need?Talk to the founders
  • Solutions
  • Pricing
    • ResearchFindings tested against the shelf, and brand studies
    • BlogWhat the online shelf showed this month
    • GlossaryDefinitions of retail and alternative-data measures
Client loginStart free
  • Platform
    • Coverage400+ retailers, history back to 2013
    • Shelf IndicesFree monthly price and discount indices
    • Brand headlinesQuarterly prices for 84 consumer brands
    • Custom dataExtracts scoped to your sectors and dates
    • How we build it
      MethodologyHow we collect, classify and map brands
    • ValidationQuality screens and backtests
  • Solutions
  • Pricing
    • Research
    • Blog
    • Glossary
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  1. Home
  2. /Glossary
  3. /Alternative data (shelf-side)
Glossary

What is alternative data (shelf-side)?

Non-traditional data used in investment research; shelf-side data measures what is listed, at what price and availability, rather than what was bought.

Definition

Alternative data is information outside company filings and broker research that helps investors understand business performance. In consumer research it falls into two families.

Demand-side data (card, receipt and transaction panels) measures what consumers bought. Shelf-side data (web and retailer-site data) measures what was on offer: products, prices, discounts and availability.

How Data Purl measures it

Data Purl is shelf-side. It collects public retailer and brand websites weekly, then standardizes products into one category tree and maps brands to their owners, public or private, with listed owners mapped to tickers.

Why it matters

The two families answer different questions and are frequently used together: shelf-side data explains the price, promotion and assortment decisions behind the sales that demand-side data measures.

Related

Brand-to-ticker mappingMatched-SKU inflation (same-SKU price change)
  • How to choose an eCommerce pricing and assortment data provider
  • Build vs buy: scraping retail pricing data yourself

See the data for your coverage

Start free in the analytics portal, or talk to the founders about the full dataset delivered to Snowflake or S3.

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Data Purl

Data Purl is an eCommerce pricing and assortment data provider that follows every brand across the retailers that sell it: SKU-level price, discount, availability and assortment history across 400+ retailers back to 2013, compared like for like, with brands resolved to their owners, public or private, and listed owners mapped to tickers.

+44 20 8125 3010 (UK)+1 212-660-0780 (US / International)

Product

  • Platform
  • Coverage
  • Retailers
  • Custom data
  • Methodology
  • Compliance
  • Validation
  • vs AI web scraping
  • Choosing a data provider

Solutions

  • Public market investors
  • Private equity
  • Consultants
  • Investment banking M&A
  • Venture capital

Use cases

  • Pricing power
  • Markdowns and inventory
  • Commercial due diligence
  • Brand distribution
  • Category inflation
  • Portfolio monitoring
  • Tariff pass-through
  • Holiday promotions
  • Private label
  • Assortment cuts
  • Earnings previews
  • Product launches
  • Choosing a data provider
  • Build vs buy

Resources

  • Plans and pricing
  • Research
  • Blog
  • Shelf Indices
  • Brand headlines
  • Use cases
  • Glossary
  • FAQ
  • About
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of use
  • Start free
  • Talk to the founders
400+
retailers
1,900+
public companies mapped
4,000
product categories
2013
history back to

© 2026 Data Purl. All rights reserved. Data Purl is a trading name of Cleveland Alternative Data Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom with company number 16234509. Registered office: Basement, 52 Cleveland Square, London W2 6DB. Contact: support@data-purl.com.