E-commerce price tracker with ScrapeGraphAI, MongoDB, and Mailgun alerts

Product Price Monitor with Mailgun and MongoDB

⚠️ COMMUNITY TEMPLATE DISCLAIMER: This is a community-contributed template that uses ScrapeGraphAI (a community node). Please ensure you have the ScrapeGraphAI community node installed in your n8n instance before using this template.

This workflow automatically scrapes multiple e-commerce sites, records weekly product prices in MongoDB, analyzes seasonal trends, and emails a concise report to retail stakeholders via Mailgun. It helps retailers make informed inventory and pricing decisions by providing up-to-date pricing intelligence.

Pre-conditions/Requirements

Prerequisites

• n8n instance (self-hosted, desktop, or n8n.cloud)
• ScrapeGraphAI community node installed and activated
• MongoDB database (Atlas or self-hosted)
• Mailgun account with a verified domain
• Publicly reachable n8n Webhook URL (if self-hosted)

Required Credentials

• ScrapeGraphAI API Key – Enables web scraping across target sites
• MongoDB Credentials – Connection string (MongoDB URI) with read/write access
• Mailgun API Key & Domain – To send summary emails

MongoDB Collection Schema

How it works

This workflow automatically scrapes multiple e-commerce sites, records weekly product prices in MongoDB, analyzes seasonal trends, and emails a concise report to retail stakeholders via Mailgun. It helps retailers make informed inventory and pricing decisions by providing up-to-date pricing intelligence.

Key Steps:

• Webhook Trigger: Starts the workflow on a scheduled HTTP call or manual trigger.
• Code (Prepare Products): Defines the list of SKUs/URLs to monitor.
• Split In Batches: Processes products in manageable chunks to respect rate limits.
• ScrapeGraphAI (Scrape Price): Extracts price, availability, and currency from each product URL.
• Merge (Combine Results): Re-assembles all batch outputs into one dataset.
• MongoDB (Upsert Price History): Stores each price point for historical analysis.
• If (Seasonal Trend Check): Compares current price against historical average to detect anomalies.
• Set (Email Payload): Formats the trend report for email.
• Mailgun (Send Email): Emails weekly summary to specified recipients.
• Respond to Webhook: Returns “200 OK – Report Sent” response for logging.

Set up steps

Setup Time: 15-20 minutes

1. Install Community Node
   In n8n, go to “Settings → Community Nodes” and install @n8n-community/nodes-scrapegraphai.
2. Create Credentials
   • Add ScrapeGraphAI API key under Credentials.
   • Add MongoDB credentials (type: MongoDB).
   • Add Mailgun credentials (type: Mailgun).
3. Import Workflow
   Download the JSON template, then in n8n click “Import” and select the file.
4. Configure Product List
   Open the Code (Prepare Products) node and replace the example array with your product objects { id, name, url }.
5. Adjust Cron/Schedule
   If you prefer a fully automated schedule, replace the Webhook with a Cron node (e.g., every Monday at 09:00).
6. Verify MongoDB Collection
   Ensure the collection (default: productPrices) exists or let n8n create it on first run.
7. Set Recipients
   In the Mailgun node, update the to, from, and subject fields.
8. Execute Test Run
   Manually trigger the Webhook URL or run the workflow once to verify data flow and email delivery.
9. Activate
   Toggle the workflow to “Active” so it runs automatically each week.

Node Descriptions

Core Workflow Nodes:

• Webhook – Entry point that accepts a GET/POST call to start the job.
• Code (Prepare Products) – Outputs an array of products to monitor.
• Split In Batches – Limits scraping to N products per request to avoid banning.
• ScrapeGraphAI – Scrapes the HTML of a product page and parses pricing data.
• Merge – Re-combines batch results for streamlined processing.
• MongoDB – Inserts or updates each product’s price history document.
• If – Determines whether price deviates > X% from the season average.
• Set – Builds an HTML/text email body containing the findings.
• Mailgun – Sends the email via Mailgun REST API.
• Respond to Webhook – Returns an HTTP response for logging/monitoring.
• Sticky Notes – Provide in-workflow documentation (no execution).

Data Flow:

1. Webhook → Code → Split In Batches
2. Split In Batches → ScrapeGraphAI → Merge
3. Merge → MongoDB → If
4. If (true) → Set → Mailgun → Respond to Webhook

Customization Examples

Change Scraping Frequency (Cron)

// Cron node settings
{
  "mode": "custom",
  "cronExpression": "0 6 * * 1,4" // Monday & Thursday 06:00
}

Extend Data Points (Reviews Count, Stock)

// In ScrapeGraphAI extraction config
{
  "price": "css:span.price",
  "inStock": "css:div.availability",
  "reviewCount": "regex:\"(\\d+) reviews\""
}

Data Output Format

The workflow outputs structured JSON data:

{
  "productId": "SKU-12345",
  "productName": "Women's Winter Jacket",
  "timestamp": "2024-09-15T00:00:00Z",
  "price": 79.99,
  "currency": "USD",
  "source": "example-shop.com",
  "trend": "5% below 3-month average"
}

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. ScrapeGraphAI returns empty data – Confirm selectors/XPath are correct; test with ScrapeGraphAI playground.
2. MongoDB connection fails – Verify IP-whitelisting for Atlas or network connectivity for self-hosted instance.
3. Mail not delivered – Check Mailgun logs for bounce or spam rejection, and ensure from domain is verified.

Performance Tips

• Use smaller batch sizes (e.g., 5 URLs) to avoid target site rate-limit blocks.
• Cache static product info; scrape only fields that change (price, stock).

Pro Tips:

• Integrate the IF node with n8n’s Slack node to push urgent price drops to a channel.
• Add a Function node to calculate moving averages for deeper analysis.
• Store raw HTML snapshots in S3/MinIO for auditability and debugging.