The Complete Guide to Selling Digital Goods and Downloads
Still unsure of what digital goods to offer for sale or how to do so?
I have experienced it. I have sold every imaginable kind of product (digital, physical, SaaS, and services) since 2008. I tested numerous marketplaces, some of which were unsuccessful.
Digital items could be your main focus. I recently wrote about what physical products to sell online.
They are alluring because they are easier to utilize than real goods. The problems of inventory management and delivery wouldn’t apply to you.
However, without a clear plan, simply hopping on the bandwagon of selling downloaded goods online can hurt your bottom line. There is much more to selling online than simply adding your stuff to your website or online store and waiting for customers to flood in. Many people commit the error of entering without understanding how it operates.
I developed this comprehensive guide to help you have a smooth ride after realizing this.
Different Digital Goods to Sell:
Digital trade is a sizable industry in itself. We’re going to omit video and music since you presumably aren’t a rapper or movie producer. Our attention is on the common routes used by online business owners:
Information is sold through electronic publishing and electronic publications.
Selling information in content that is protected through online courses.
selling software goods as a service.
The ePublishing/eBooks market is expanding.
The fastest-growing digital product online is the e-book. In 2016, revenues were about $16 billion. Between 2016 and 2020, compound annual growth is anticipated to be over 16 percent.
Over that time, the total growth is expected to be about 93%, making eBooks the segment with the highest growth rate overall.2020 sales projections are $29 billion.
Advantages and disadvantages of selling ebooks
With eBooks, you wouldn’t have to worry about inventory or shipping. You have the power to establish your own price and manage the margins. But to create and market eBooks, you must have some level of competence; you can only write about what you are familiar with.
Ebooks are a breeze to copy and paste. Once an ebook is created, its owner can upload it to the internet for everyone to read. Even if people buy, compared to a SaaS solution, you can only sell an ebook once.
Growth of the Self-Paced E-Learning and Online Course Market
The self-paced eLearning market is growing at a pitiful rate, despite the enormous overall numbers for eLearning (business, universities). Sales of online courses actually fell in the US in 2015.
These summaries include authoring tools and platforms, custom content production services, and retail packaged content.
E-Learning at Your Own Pace
The benefits and drawbacks of selling online courses
Your benefits from offering online courses—no inventory and a better profit margin—are essentially the same as those of offering eBooks. On the other hand, in order to teach something, you must have knowledge and experience that may take some time to acquire. It also has a lower ceiling and a slower rate of revenue.
Selling information products like courses won’t work if you don’t want to have a strong personal brand.
The growth of the Software as a Service (SaaS) market
According to estimates, the global SaaS market was worth $78 billion in 2015, and by 2020, it is projected to reach $132 billion (69 percent ).
SaaS sales: the benefits and drawbacks
With SaaS, you don’t have to worry about inventory and shipping as you do with every other digital product. The fact that you have more control and a larger ceiling on the pricing of your product is an additional benefit. It requires a lot of resources, which is a drawback. It takes a long time to start making money, and you’ll need to bring in different expertise and personnel.
Compared with the sale of physical versus digital goods,
Selling digital goods has advantages over selling physical goods, and vice versa.
On the internet, there is an infinite storehouse available for digital download. On the other hand, you can simply show the value of actual things. They are tactile, making it simpler to understand why they serve the purpose they do.
You can completely automate the process of selling digital things online with the use of solutions like MailerLite. Once everything is set up, you won’t need to bother about warehouses, shipping, packaging, or any other expensive aspects of selling physical goods.
You can grow your business no matter what you decide to sell as long as you choose the right products and use the right strategies.
Having known that experience counts for a lot, I put this question to 18 entrepreneurs: what is the largest benefit of selling digital goods as opposed to physical ones? Please respond to the other side of the question as well.
First, let’s examine the advantages of selling digital over physical.
Why Market Digital Goods Instead of Physicals?
high margin of profit.
Free shipping
No limitations on shipping.
no need for storage, and cheap
No scarcity of stock.
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