SPAR APIspar.co.za ↗
Search the SPAR South Africa grocery catalog by keyword. Returns product name, description, size, and image URL for SPAR brand products.
What is the SPAR API?
The SPAR South Africa API gives developers access to the SPAR brand product catalog through 2 endpoints, returning up to 5 fields per product including name, description, size, and image URL. Use search_products to query by keyword across product names and descriptions, or use get_product to retrieve a single item by its numeric product ID.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/3bdd71ec-f83f-486e-ad7d-f41d77d75337/search_products?query=milk' \ -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. Results are from the first page only (up to 16 products).
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| queryrequired | string | Search term to find products by name or description (e.g. 'milk', 'bread', 'coconut'). |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"query": "string — the search term used",
"products": "array of product objects with product_id, name, description, size, and image_url",
"total_results": "integer — number of products returned"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"query": "milk",
"products": [
{
"name": "active snack bar peanut",
"size": "40g",
"image_url": "https://www.spar.co.za/CMSWebParts/SPAR/Brands/BrandImage.aspx?thumb=false&Id=8727",
"product_id": "8727",
"description": "Granola and Peanuts with milk choc coating"
}
],
"total_results": 16
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the SPAR API
What the API Covers
This API exposes the SPAR South Africa brand product catalog at spar.co.za. It covers product metadata — name, description, size, image_url, and product_id — for items in the SPAR own-brand range. Prices are not included in any response because SPAR South Africa does not publish prices on its website; they vary by individual store location.
Endpoints
search_products accepts a query string (e.g. 'milk', 'bread', 'coconut') and returns an array of matching product objects alongside a total_results count and the original query value echoed back. Matching runs against both product names and descriptions, so partial or category-level terms can surface a range of items.
get_product accepts a numeric product_id — obtained from a prior search_products call — and returns the full detail record for that single product: name, size, image_url, product_id, and description. Retrieving a product by ID requires scanning the paginated catalog, which may involve up to approximately 20 sequential page fetches; latency for this endpoint is higher than for search.
Limitations to Note
Coverage is limited to SPAR own-brand products as listed on spar.co.za. National-brand products sold in SPAR stores but not featured on the SPAR website are not accessible. Stock availability, store-specific assortments, and promotional data are not part of any response.
The SPAR API is a managed, monitored endpoint for spar.co.za — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when spar.co.za changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official spar.co.za API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Build a SPAR own-brand product browser showing name, size, and pack image.
- Populate a grocery comparison app with SPAR product descriptions and sizes.
- Generate a structured product catalog database from SPAR brand items.
- Match SPAR product IDs to external nutritional databases using name and description fields.
- Power an internal procurement tool with SPAR brand product metadata.
- Index SPAR product images and descriptions for a recipe or meal-planning application.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 200 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
| Team | $300/mo | 20,000 | 300 req/min |
| Company | $1,000/mo | 100,000 | 500 req/min |
Each endpoint has a fixed posted price per successful call — most fall between 1 and 10 credits — shown on this API's page before you run it. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.