# Continente Portugal Grocery & Supermarket Scraper (`plastic_bisque/continente-portugal-scraper`) Actor

Fast and complete scraper for Continente.pt. Extracts supermarket product catalog, prices, promotions, unit prices (PPU), packaging, and 10-level category hierarchies without browser overhead.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/plastic\_bisque/continente-portugal-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Le Hung](https://apify.com/plastic_bisque) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## 🛒 Continente Portugal Grocery & Supermarket Scraper

> **High-speed, institutional-grade product catalog & pricing scraper for Continente.pt** (Portugal's leading hypermarket and supermarket chain). Extracts retail food products, promotional discounts, unit prices (PPU), packaging sizes, barcodes, and deep 10-level category hierarchies.

***

### ⚡ Why Choose This Scraper?

- **Ultra-Fast & Lightweight**: Built directly on fast HTTP request pipelines and embedded impression data. Does not run heavy headless Chromium instances, saving you up to **85%** on Apify compute costs.
- **Institutional Quality Schema**: Adheres strictly to the `GROCERY-PLP` 31-attribute institutional standard used by leading data marketplaces and retail analytics firms.
- **Deep Promotion & Price Tracking**: Captures both current discounted price and regular strikethrough price, promotion badge tags (e.g. `-25%`, `PVPR`), and secondary unit economics (€/kg, €/L).
- **Comprehensive Category Hierarchy**: Flattens up to 10 nested category tiers for seamless database indexing and categorization.

***

### 📋 What Data Does It Extract?

Every scraped product record includes:

- **Identification**: Unique Product Code / SKU (`product_code`), Brand name, Full Product Title.
- **Pricing & Currency**: Regular / Full Price (`full_price`), Discounted Sales Price (`price`), Currency (`EUR`).
- **Unit Economics**: Price Per Unit (`ppu`), Unit Type (`kg`, `l`, `un`, etc.).
- **Promotions & Badges**: Promotion Type (e.g. `-20%`, `PVPR`), Award Badges (e.g. `Produto Premiado`, `Bio`).
- **Product Details**: Package / Quantity description (e.g. `emb. 1 kg`, `garrafa 75 cl`), Availability status (`Disponível`).
- **Category Tree**: 10 distinct level columns (`category1` to `category10`).
- **Media & URLs**: Direct product page URL on Continente and high-resolution product image URL.

***

### 🛠️ Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
| :--- | :---: | :---: | :---: | :--- |
| `categories` | Array | No | `["frescos", "mercearia", "laticinios-e-ovos"]` | Categories to scrape from Continente.pt. |
| `searchQuery` | String | No | `null` | Optional keyword search (e.g. `cafe`, `leite`, `azeite`). |
| `maxItems` | Integer | No | `100` | Maximum total products to extract across categories (`0` for unlimited). |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Object | No | `null` | Apify Proxy configuration (Datacenter or Residential proxy). |

#### Example Input (JSON)

```json
{
  "categories": ["frescos", "mercearia", "laticinios-e-ovos", "bebidas-e-garrafeira"],
  "maxItems": 250
}
```

***

### 📦 Sample Output Record (JSON)

```json
{
  "website_name": "continente.pt",
  "competence_date": "2026-09-21",
  "country_code": "PRT",
  "currency_code": "EUR",
  "store_id": "",
  "product_code": "7092144",
  "product_std_code": "",
  "std_type": "",
  "brand": "Continente",
  "product_title": "Azeite Virgem Extra Clássico Continente",
  "package_desc": "garrafa 75 cl",
  "full_price": 8.49,
  "price": 6.99,
  "ppu": 9.32,
  "unit_type": "l",
  "promotion_type": "-17%",
  "promotion_end_date": "",
  "additional_tags": "Bio",
  "additional_content": "Disponível",
  "category1": "Mercearia",
  "category2": "Azeite, Óleo e Vinagre",
  "category3": "Azeite",
  "category4": "Azeite Virgem Extra",
  "category5": "",
  "category6": "",
  "category7": "",
  "category8": "",
  "category9": "",
  "category10": "",
  "itemurl": "https://www.continente.pt/produto/azeite-virgem-extra-continente-7092144.html",
  "imageurl": "https://www.continente.pt/dw/image/v2/BDVS_PRD/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-col-master-catalog/default/dw12345/7092144.jpg"
}
```

***

### 💼 Ideal Use Cases

1. **Supermarket & FMCG Price Monitoring**: Track real-time grocery prices, promotional cycles, and price elasticity across Portuguese retail.
2. **Food Inflation & Macroeconomic Indexes**: Gather daily commodity baskets for consumer price index (CPI) modeling.
3. **Retail Brand Competitor Audits**: Monitor private-label brand positioning against multinational FMCG brands (Nestlé, Unilever, Danone).
4. **E-commerce & Grocery Aggregators**: Sync product catalogs, nutritional attributes, and active promotional discounts.

***

### 🔒 Proxy & Compliance

Continente.pt delivers stable performance over standard HTTP connections. For regular batch runs (< 1,000 products), default Apify Proxy settings are sufficient. For store-wide sweeps (> 20,000 items), enable **Apify Proxy** with mild request delays to ensure consistent availability.

# Actor input Schema

## `categories` (type: `array`):

Categories to scrape from continente.pt. Examples: frescos, mercearia, laticinios-e-ovos, bebidas-e-garrafeira, congelados, bio-e-saudavel, limpeza, beleza-e-higiene, bebe, animais.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional direct category or search URLs (e.g. https://www.continente.pt/frescos/ or https://www.continente.pt/pesquisa/?q=leite).

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Optional keyword search (e.g. 'cafe', 'leite', 'azeite'). If specified, searches products directly.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of products to scrape across all categories (set to 0 for unlimited).

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional proxy configuration. Standard Apify Proxy or datacenter proxies work well.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "categories": [
    "frescos",
    "mercearia",
    "laticinios-e-ovos"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Structured grocery products with 31 fields (prices, PPU, promotions, category hierarchy)

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("plastic_bisque/continente-portugal-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("plastic_bisque/continente-portugal-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call plastic_bisque/continente-portugal-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,plastic_bisque/continente-portugal-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/R2cJl4ZgPc5SKGZgF/builds/KCwrFJ6eOQQfgsENM/openapi.json