Selling Intangible Products: All you need to know!
What is a digital product?
Something that can be sold online in a downloadable format having no physical existence. Downloadable files could be PDFs, templates, mp3, plug-ins, software, etc. Digital products can’t be touched, worn or tasted but present in our mundane life like music, videos, online knowledgebase, etc.
In this article, we’ll look into the pros & cons of digital products over physical ones and what are the ways & tips if you want to start selling them.
So, if you’re a novice in the eCommerce ecosystem and still haven’t figured out the product to sell then you should definitely put the thought of selling intangible/digital products in your mind at least once.
Merchants already selling physical products can also sell digital products on the same store, side by side.
Digital products over Physical ones?
Highlighting the ease of selling digital products:
No Inventory Management:
If we talk about selling online, the first concern that comes up is inventory management which requires a maximum of the time & efforts. Moreover, inventory takes up most of the budget. But since digital products have no physical existence, they don’t require to be stocked up. You don’t need to worry about inventories, warehouses or other related things. Hence, you can start your digital store without inventory or warehousing hassle.
No Shipping:
The second most priority & pain point of selling physical products online is shipping the products to the customers. Safe shipping & on-time shipping are so required if you want to serve your customers with the best. In the case of selling digital products, you don’t need to invest in the best shipping solutions or worrying about the shipping costs which, by the way, customers hate to pay.
No Damage Returns:
This one is another plus point of selling digital products. Since you are not shipping them that means they won’t be returned broken or damaged in the delivery process or even from the customer’s end. This is a really painful part of selling physical products. The chances of wear and tear loss are null in the case of digital products.
Instant Fulfillment & Delivery:
The customer chooses the product, adds to the cart, checkout, payment done, product received via email hence fulfilled & delivered on spot. The merchant doesn’t need to wait for the product to reach on the customer’s doorsteps before changing the status of the order.
Easy Improvement:
When you are selling physical products implementing feedbacks is a lengthy process as well as expensive. Whereas, in the case of digital products you can implement the changes as soon as possible.
Minimum Overhead Cost:
It doesn’t take as many resources to develop a digital product as developing a physical product. To publish a digital product requires less overhead charges as compared to manufacturing physical products that is why most of the merchants dealing with physical products go for drop shipping rather than handling product manufacturing & warehousing themselves. Thus, keeping the whole process of selling digital products under the budget.
Multiple Options & Easy Analysis:
You have multiple ways to sell digital products in order to boost your sales, for example, selling with a free trial period, selling on a subscription basis, etc. These factors somehow help you build the trust between you and your customers thus increasing sales. Moreover, you can easily analyze your growth depending on the number of downloads.
Few Stumbling Blocks on the path of selling Digital Products
Theft Security:
While dealing with digital products, you need to work on security dimensions. Save your products from theft conditions.
Competition:
Commonly, the competition factor is there in every zone that you’re selling in. No matter if it is a physical or a digital product but there is one point that is unique in the case of the digital product. There may be a possibility that the digital product that you are selling is already out there in the market at a free cost. So, you need to be perfect and valuable to make the customers pay for something that they can get for free as well.
Policy Procedure:
Selling digital products requires you to follow the set of rules if you want to expand your business on social media like Instagram or Facebook. Make sure to check them out before starting!
Wide Customer Support:
Your customers know that digital products are easily customizable so they expect the same from you. Even after purchasing, they’ll be up with customization requests & you have to get them fixed. Moreover, issues like the file are not opening, the format is not supported, download crash, virus concerns, etc are all required to take care from your end. So, a firm & wide customer support is what you need to invest in.
Marketing Digital Products is complex than Physical Products:
Physical products are more likely to cover the vision of a large audience. Happy customers might post your physical products on social media like wearing the apparel or jewelry thus getting views. But this is not the case for physical products. You need to market them by putting out blogs and good content which require time to get the views. Apart from that, displaying digital products up for sale is also hard not like physical products that can be presented with good quality product pictures to allure the customers.
Types of digital services to sell
- Online Knowledgebase or online courses and tutorials. They can include PDFs and video material.
- eBooks for all the readers out there. You can even go for audible books as well.
- Software with features of free trials & subscriptions as said above.
- Gift cards are a good option too if you want to sell digital products with physical ones.
- Travel guides to share your experience & helping others to get the best out of their trips as well. Especially recommended for travel bloggers.
A Basic & Efficient Flow of Selling Digital Products
- Decide the kind of digital product you want to go with.
- As soon as you are up with the product, go for pre-ordering. Pre-ordering helps you get funds before the actual sale and providing discounts while pre-ordering will help you get more buyers.
- Put your products out there on social media to gather as much audience as you can. Use promotional ways to get more sales.
- Write as much as content about your products as you can to gain an audience.
- Even after launch, try to provide discount offers and free gifts, this helps to retain the sales flow.
- Implement the feedback as soon as possible and ask your customers to share their experience on different platforms.
- Try to be the part of events and campaigns to get your brand into the vision. Free merchandise, with your brand signature, giveaways are always a pro tip to attract customers & self-promotion.
Selling Digital Products on Shopify
Selling digital products on Shopify is simple and you can even get help from the number of apps available to enhance your service, specifically built to serve this purpose.
Adding a digital product on your Shopify store is as simple as adding a normal product. Add the product as usual but make sure to unmark the ‘This is a physical product‘ option in the Shipping Section.
Don’t forget to add the download link to the product.
💡 If you are still not using Shopify then it’s time to go ahead and start your 14-days free trial period. Click here!
Multi-Vendor Marketplace for Digital Products
If you are looking to build a marketplace with no restriction of product type then Multi-Vendor Marketplace for Shopify is the Solution. Selling digital products on this Multi-Vendor Marketplace is really flexible & easy.
Check out: Sell Digital Products on MultiVendor Marketplace
Digital Product Storage:
The digital storage provided in the Multivendor Marketplace for Shopify depends on the plan that you have activated:
- Pro Plan ($60/month)- 15 GB digital storage
- Executive Plan ($40/month)- 5 GB digital storage
- Basic Plan ($15/month)- 3 GB digital storage
In case if the admin wants to increase his digital storage, then, he can go for either way:
- Digital Storage Plans
- Configure Amazon S3/Box: If you want to upload digital products using your own Amazon S3 or Box, then you can configure the same in the Multivendor Marketplace app for Shopify.
💡 Need help?
Drop your query at shopify@webkul.com or Webkul UV Desk.
Until next time. 👋