PINGDOM_CHECK
Debbie Reeve Crook
3 mins
July 19, 2024

Web scraping food delivery data from any geo while avoiding IP-based restrictions

Web scraping food delivery data from any geo while avoiding IP-based restrictions

Geolocation technology is revolutionizing the food delivery industry, enabling platforms to access location-specific data and provide more personalized services. By leveraging advanced web scraping tools like Zyte API, food delivery companies can overcome challenges like geo-blocking and gather real-time insights on menus, pricing, and market trends across different locations. This powerful capability allows platforms to enhance customer experiences, optimize operations, and gain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving online food ordering landscape. 


Zyte API geolocation features


Zyte API's advanced geolocation features enable food delivery platforms to access location-specific data from anywhere, using Data Center and Residential IPs. This powerful tool allows businesses to retrieve geo-blocked content such as local menus, prices, and promotions while effectively avoiding IP bans during food delivery data extraction. By leveraging these capabilities, companies can gather comprehensive market information across different regions, ensuring accurate and up-to-date offerings for their customers. The API's seamless integration and scalability make it an ideal solution for food delivery vendors looking to expand their reach and competitive position in the market.

The benefits of real-time data for food delivery platforms 


Real-time data extraction is a game-changer in food delivery data scraping offering many advantages that can revolutionize operations and customer experiences.


  • By analyzing up-to-the-minute information on customer preferences, order patterns, and feedback, companies can personalize recommendations and enhance overall satisfaction. 

  • This agility allows for accurate demand prediction, considering factors like historical trends and local events, which optimizes inventory and staffing levels. 

  • Additionally, real-time analytics facilitate dynamic pricing strategies based on current demand and competitor activities, potentially increasing revenue and maintaining a competitive edge in the market. 

  • The integration of real-time data on traffic conditions and weather also helps optimize delivery routes, ensuring timely service and improving customer satisfaction.


Overcoming scraping challenges


Food delivery platforms face unique challenges when extracting data, including geo-blocking, IP bans, and maintaining consistent data accuracy. Zyte API effectively addresses these issues through its advanced geolocation features, automated proxy rotation and management, and four-layer Data Quality Assurance process. The system's ability to access location-specific data while avoiding restrictions ensures comprehensive market coverage and up-to-date information. 


Additionally, Zyte API's scalability allows food delivery services to match internal SLAs and adapt to growing data needs, supported by dedicated project management. While leveraging geolocation tools, food delivery platforms must navigate regulations like the EU's Geo-blocking Regulation, which aims to prevent unjustified discrimination based on customer location. 


Essential compliance requirements include:


  • Allowing website access across the EU

  • Offering consistent pricing and services

  • Obtaining explicit consent for redirections to country-specific versions


Platforms can maintain reasonable delivery zones based on logistical factors but should allow EU customers to place pickup orders if they're willing to travel. Embracing these regulations can expand user bases and create a more seamless experience across the EU market.


Using localized proxies to fight bans


Some websites will use IP location as a “red flag” when detecting bot traffic, often triggering captcha or bans.


A simple way to manage bans for those websites is to learn which locations will be considered normal traffic and activate them in your spiders. When using Zyte API as your proxy rotation management solution, you can activate the localized IP with a single parameter in the code.

Using localized proxies to access geo-blocked content


Many websites customize their content depending on the visitor’s location. This is true for sites which might change and convert the currency based on the visitor’s country, or even news websites with multiple translations for each article, or websites that serve personalized ads depending on where the visitor is coming from.


If you are doing web scraping for pricing intelligence, for example, it is crucial to get the prices for the right currency you are mapping, so to do that, you’ll need localized proxies.


Zyte API geolocation feature comes in handy to access localized and global sites with ease. You can configure specific locations for each spider and even access the same website from different locations to get the content they are showing for each place.


A single tool for web scraping with everything you need


Web scraping used to be a multi-tool management effort, needing to integrate multiple solutions to handle its main parts: ban handling, crawling, extracting, and post-processing.


Zyte has been changing the game of web scraping with the launch of Zyte API and the ongoing incorporation of advanced features, making it indeed the first end-to-end solution for web scraping.


When choosing Zyte API’s solution for managing your proxies, you can activate the extended geolocation benefits, our powerful website unblocker, and even some advanced features like a built-in scriptable headless browser, cookies and sessions support, IDE, and more.


Cost control is also one huge benefit of a single-tool approach to web scraping. Zyte API is charged only per request, which will vary depending on the complexity of the website to be unblocked and, of course, the use of some advanced options. Nevertheless, it will always use the cheapest yet most successful proxy for a given website.


How to activate geolocation in Zyte API


When set to default, Zyte API will automatically use a proxy location to access a site, but there are times when you may want to override that default choice and access specific locations for your requests.


Geolocalized requests will force the API to use Data Centers or Residential IPs from the locations you want. Compared to Data Center proxies, Residential proxies are the most expensive ones in our arsenal, so we only engage those when necessary or when it is set by the user.


You can force the geolocation by adding a simple parameter on any of your spiders.


Unlocking growth by harnessing geolocation technology in web scraping


By harnessing the power of Zyte API, food delivery platforms can now access crucial location-specific data, overcome geo-blocking challenges, and gain valuable real-time insights into market trends, pricing, and customer preferences. 


The ability to extract and analyze data from various locations allows delivery platform providers to make informed decisions, optimize operations, and provide highly personalized customer experiences. From tailoring menus and pricing strategies to improving delivery routes and demand forecasting, geolocation-enabled data extraction drives innovation and competitiveness in the sector.


However, it's crucial for food delivery platforms to navigate this landscape responsibly, ensuring compliance with regulations like the EU's Geo-blocking Regulation. By doing so, they can expand their reach, create more inclusive services, and tap into new markets across different regions. As the food delivery industry evolves, embracing geolocation technology and advanced data extraction methods will be vital to staying ahead in this dynamic and competitive market. Companies that leverage these tools effectively will be well-positioned to meet the ever-changing demands of consumers and thrive in the digital age of food delivery. 


Test Zyte API with free credits. 


Geolocalized website access can be easily tested during the free trial of Zyte API. 
To begin your trial, simply sign up and set up a fresh account. Then, choose a website that requires localized IPs, configure it in your spider code, and run your first requests.