spar.co.za APIwww.spar.co.za ↗
Search the SPAR South Africa grocery catalog by keyword. Returns product name, description, size, and image URL for matching items.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/3bdd71ec-f83f-486e-ad7d-f41d77d75337/search_products' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Search the SPAR brand product catalog by keyword. Returns matching products with their name, description, size, and image URL. The search matches against product names and descriptions. Prices are not available on this site as they vary by store location.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| queryrequired | string | Search term to find products by name or description (e.g. 'milk', 'bread', 'coconut'). |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"query": "string",
"products": "array of product objects with product_id, name, description, size, and image_url",
"total_results": "integer"
},
"sample": {
"query": "bread",
"products": [
{
"name": "brown bread wheat flour",
"size": "12.5kg",
"image_url": "https://www.spar.co.za/CMSWebParts/SPAR/Brands/BrandImage.aspx?thumb=false&Id=799",
"product_id": "799",
"description": "Finest quality flour for home made brown bread"
}
],
"total_results": 5
}
}About the spar.co.za API
The SPAR South Africa API exposes 1 endpoint — search_products — that queries the SPAR brand product catalog and returns up to 5 fields per product: product_id, name, description, size, and image_url. It covers the full SPAR grocery range including fresh food, pantry staples, beverages, and household items, letting developers build product lookup tools without maintaining their own catalog data.
What the API Returns
The search_products endpoint accepts a single query string parameter and returns a list of matching SPAR South Africa products. Each product object includes a product_id, name, description, size, and image_url. The response also includes a total_results count and echoes back the original query string for reference. Searches match against both product names and descriptions, so terms like 'coconut' will surface items whose descriptions mention the ingredient even if it is not in the product name.
Coverage and Scope
The catalog reflects SPAR's branded product range for South Africa, covering categories such as dairy, bakery, beverages, snacks, canned goods, and household products. Because SPAR South Africa prices are set at the individual store level, price data is not available in any response field — this is a fundamental characteristic of the source, not a gap in the endpoint.
Using the Data
The image_url field returns a direct link to the product image, suitable for rendering in a storefront or comparison tool. The size field carries the pack or volume information (e.g. 500ml, 1kg) as a string, which can be used for unit-based filtering in downstream logic. Product IDs are stable identifiers useful for deduplicating results or building persistent product references.
- Build a grocery list app that resolves typed item names to canonical SPAR product entries with images and descriptions.
- Populate a nutrition or meal-planning tool with SPAR product data keyed by ingredient keyword.
- Create a product comparison page that shows SPAR catalog entries alongside other South African retailers.
- Generate a product image gallery for SPAR items by querying category keywords and collecting image_url fields.
- Validate whether a specific branded product (e.g. SPAR house-brand bread) exists in the catalog before listing it in a menu or app.
- Feed a search autocomplete widget that resolves partial grocery terms to full SPAR product names and sizes.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does SPAR South Africa offer an official developer API?+
Why are prices missing from the product results?+
Can I retrieve products by category or browse the full catalog?+
query parameter and returns matching products with name, description, size, and image_url. Category-level browsing or a full catalog dump is not covered. You can fork the API on Parse and revise it to add a category-browsing endpoint.Does the API return store locations or stock availability?+
How specific can my search query be?+
query parameter matches against product names and descriptions, so both broad terms ('milk') and more specific phrases ('low fat yoghurt') are valid. The total_results field in the response indicates how many products matched, which is useful for deciding whether to broaden or narrow the search term.