Inspiration
We were inspired by the need to save time and money when shopping online. With daily deals on Amazon often hidden among countless products, we wanted to create a tool that brings the best deals right to your fingertips.
What it does
Deal Buddy scrapes the Deal of the Day from Amazon, presenting it in an easy-to-read format. Users can quickly see the best deals without having to navigate through the entire site.
How we built it
We built Deal Buddy using React for the frontend and Node.js for the backend. For web scraping, we utilized Oxylabs to ensure reliable and efficient data extraction. The application uses a .env file to securely store usernames and passwords.
Challenges we ran into
One of the main challenges was ensuring that the scraper could handle Amazon's dynamic content and frequent updates to its HTML structure. We also had to carefully manage and secure user credentials stored in the .env file. Also, the web-scraping service that we used, i.e. Oxylabs, it provided only a 7 day free tier and that too with limited services. So, for the sake of this challenge, we only have incorporated the amazon services.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of successfully integrating Oxylabs for robust web scraping and creating a user-friendly interface with React. Our app not only fetches deals accurately but also displays them in a way that enhances user experience.
What we learned
Throughout this project, we learned how to effectively use web scraping tools and manage sensitive information securely. We also gained valuable experience in coordinating a full-stack development process within a tight hackathon timeframe.
What's next for Deal Buddy
We plan to expand Deal Buddy by adding more e-commerce sites and introducing user customization options for deal notifications. Our goal is to make Deal Buddy the go-to app for deal hunters everywhere.
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