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What are Digital Products?
- Graphics and templates online
- Digital music downloads rather than a CD or vinyl
- A printable PDF of art work instead of a hard copy
5 Benefits of Selling Digital Products Online
1. Problems with Inventory Become a Part of the past
The balance between managing and balancing the inventory can be a problem for all businesses on every stage, from the most small start-ups up to the most prestigious enterprises. Creating too much merchandise is costly as a lack of inventory could cause a loss of money. Digital files can be shared on-demand for each purchase, they can eliminate this pricey and stressful balance of inventory.
2. Simple Delivery: No Shipping required
Shipping can be an expensive and time-consuming task for online sellers.
- Costs: Not only do sellers have to cover postage costs, but they also have to pay for packaging materials and shipping insurance.
- Time: The time it takes to carefully pack materials, travel to the post office and then wait in line could result in challenges and costs for business.
Meanwhile, digital products can be sent automatically directly to the customer's email inbox, for free. This gives you more time, money, and headspace to focus on growing your business.
3. Unlimited Sales Potential for Every Product
4. Variety of Products for Higher Sales
Digital products that you sell helps you to meet your customers' requirements and increase sales. As an example, suppose that you're an artist and selling art prints. The physical copies can be limited to certain sizes, based on the amount of inventory. If your customer owns a frame they need to fill with art the physical copy must meet their dimensions for them to be able to conclude the sale.
Conversely, selling the digital copies allows buyers to locally print whatever size they require, opening up the possibility to greater possibilities of possibilities for. The best part is that customers receive exactly what they need without putting extra work on you.
5. Happy Customers
Many of the benefits you can expect from selling digital items also help your clients:
- Automated, instant delivery also means that customers do not have to wait for their purchases.
- Like we said the buyers will be able to get what they want in the transaction.
- Digital devices can be made easier to access. For example, visually impaired readers are able to enlarge fonts on ebooks, or utilize their devices' text-to-speech reading features.
- Free of shipping and other physical product costs, consumers can benefit from the lower cost.
- Digital products can also be used to provide the option of a green transaction (no emissions or transportation) that green-minded customers would prefer.
Happy customers correlate to high satisfaction ratings at the shop, referrals to frequent buyers and higher sales.
Are There Any Cons selling digital Products?
1. Competitive Market
In all the ways discussed above, selling digital products online can be easier for businesses to maintain. This means that you will discover a market that is more competitive. It's crucial to help your brand stand out with an appealing sales page that highlights the things that make your digital offerings unique.
2. Smaller Payouts Per Transaction
A few creators choose to sell physical goods to get a better payout per transaction. Good-quality handmade items are usually valued at higher costs. However, digital items are often priced more affordably than their physical alternatives. However, digital products do offer a lower upfront cost to your company and can also result in more regular sales. Your profits will ultimately depend on the market you are in and your payments structure.
3. Digital product piracy, as well as Protection
Another major concern with selling digital products is the risk of the issue of piracy. Many creators are concerned that their product could be copied and purchased from a different seller. This is an issue in both digital and physical sale of products, digital ones are an easier target. It is safe to know that the process is not illegal There are steps to take to protect your work:
- Keep Track: Save the original versions and files of your documents to make it easier to prove the work belongs to you.
- Receipts: Document when the work was first made and then listed as a sale.
- Register Copyright: You naturally own the copyright to the entirety of your original work. However, you can choose to sign this copyright that will allow you extra compensation in case your work is taken.
- Watermarks: When you list your work on the internet then you may want to put watermarks on the images to assert your copyright and make it harder to steal.
Many retailers remove their listing upon receiving proof of theft. If nothing else works then you may pursue legal action to stop illegal piracy, be it digital or physical products. Scott Moran of offers further piracy insight on our YouTube channel.
4. Physical Product Bias
Traditional buyers might prefer physical products over one that is digital. Limiting yourself to digital products is likely to exclude these buyers.