Digital and. physical items: Which is better to sell on the internet? |

Find out how digital downloads perform against physical items, and get actionable methods and strategies to sell digital goods.

It was the time, not all that many years ago, that telling someone that you worked from home and earned your money online was akin to telling them you were working as a butterfly archeologist part-time.

It was a fact that everyone understood it was feasible to accomplish it, but when you told them how lucrative or easy it was, they'd smiled at you:

But that's not the case anymore.

And if you want to get in on this burgeoning economy, a market which was valued at $3.7 trillion and continues to grow, there's no easier way than to develop a digital product.

It's time to go back, though.

Before discussing where to put out the first digital product, we should clarify what a digital product is as well as, perhaps more important it isn't.

The focus is on digital products here at . Begin creating and selling your web-based products for no cost!

What exactly is a digital item?

Simply put the definition of a digital product is any product, whether it's for sale or not, that exists in an intangible form as an image file.

They are downloaded, streamed or translated into physical mediums (such as ebooks or a template printed as physical format), but their primary source of interaction is technology.

For our purposes and the sake of clarity for clarity and understanding, a digital product refers to the product that consumers can purchase and access through their phones, computers, and tablets, without physically installed requirement.

The consumer market is hot on the slack of these goods. Online buyers, or those who buy goods on the internet, have steadily risen over the past few years and will be expected to comprise 65.2% of the world's population before 2021 .

For a better understanding The global population is anticipated to hit ~7.8 billion in 2021 , and 65.2 percentage of that brings us to roughly 5.1 billion online buyers in the marketplace in the coming few years.

All of which equates to one reality:

If you've got something to offer, there's an buyer out there for you.

If you can make enough sales of the products and build a robust online business from these products, you could outsmart the gig economy and potentially sell your company for a tidy profit.

One firm, offering multiple eBooks, courses online, and even recorded webinars -- each digital products was sold at a price of $400,000 in less than three months .

However, even if you're looking to sell your company to an individual, you may make a profit by creating digital products.

For instance, Dead by April  was a band from Sweden increased their profit margin by nearly 45 percent and their gross profit up by 500% after selling their music direct to consumers on the internet via Bold's (now defunct) Marketplace app available on Shopify.

They're not the only creators to have had successes with digital-based products too.

"I make six figures on my web-based projects," he explains. "I could stop some of the client services work that I'm doing but still afford my life as it stands today."

Then, what exactly do you mean by a digital item?

A thing of limitless potential.

In many ways, an item that has greater advantages and disadvantages than physical goods.

What are the advantages of digital over physical goods?

When you're considering selling your product and are looking to make a decision between physical and digital mediums it's possible to go back to the traditional faithful -- physical wares however, not as fast.

Physical goods could make for a lucrative market- and it is an obvious fact, just look at the increase in sales for online shops However, it's plagued with a profit-killer which stops customers from buying.

There are unexpected expenses which result in cart abandonment .

Consider it. What number of times do you load up a cart full of clothes or other items that you'd like to take off your cart at the very last stage of checkout, only to witness your sales amount increase by the amount of taxes, shipping and handling costs?

These unanticipated costs represent the most significant reason for abandoning the cart .

The second most significant factor in abandoning carts, which is forcing customers to create an account to complete the purchase also deserves attention.

Both of these aspects are mitigated by digital goods.

Even though taxes still apply, there's no shipping cost that comes with sending your customer your ebook or workbook when the file is a digital format that doesn't have to be aware of their address, it's possible to get rid of the hassle to account opening completely.

It's not the only thing to take into consideration when it comes down to physical and digital goods:

You don't need to insure digital items. Insurance for warehouses can get complex, complicated and expensive very quickly. It's also leaving brick-and-mortar items out on the streets if the products don't get sold quickly enough to make up the cost difference.

Even if you manage or manage your goods at home, and you don't use insurance You're still in danger.

If a disaster strikes physical goods (some of which could have already been paid for by waiting customers can be just as susceptible to water, fire, or smoke-related damage like any other part of your house.

In order to give you a sense that the average homeowner spends between $1,222 to $4,189 for flooding destruction in Philadelphia -- and that's not even taking into account any additional costs related to lost goods.

A further advantage to selling digital goods instead of physical ones is the lack of middlemen.

Don't be fooled: if you're creating goods for shipping to clients, there's bound to be a middleman sooner rather than later.

There has to be if you want to scale.

That means that once your enterprise exceeds the size of your garage, then you have to start wrestling with manufacturers, shipping companies as well as every other chain that could encroach on your profits and drag them downwards.

(More on that in the final section.)

The selling of digital goods also reduces the requirement to purchase goods prior to. If you partner with a manufacturer to produce physical products, you almost always have to place an initial -- or huge purchase and then make up the difference with profits.

This can result in your earnings being sluggish as the market changes and your product is no longer positioned to sell.

Like the fidget spinners, which were extremely popular and rapidly plummeted once the trend died down.

But perhaps the most important aspect of digital goods that is more important than surviving the throes of the market, or removing the profit-siphoning middlemen the most important thing is the fact that your item remains under your control.

This means that creators of digital products don't have to contend with product recalls as retailers selling physical goods have to.

There has never been a need to recall an ebook due of a mistake that editors missed (though it is possible that they desired to), while recalls of products are in the news in the world of physical goods.

Recalls that aren't just expensive and costly, but they could be hazardous both for the customer and businesses.

The bottom line is:

Digital products eliminate the most common barriers to purchase, are more resistant to market trends, involve fewer middlemen, and keep control squarely where it belongs (in your hands).

It's not that there's no drawbacks too.

What are the disadvantages of digital products over physical ones?

I recently bought my spouse an gaming laptop. I did my research online over a period of time, came across a variety of bargain price, but at the end of the day I bought it at the store.

There were merchants with better rates online, but as more than 56% people  I would rather purchase big-ticket items in person.

And while there aren't a ton of disadvantages to selling digital products in comparison to physical ones however, the tendency to keep major purchases to retailers is worthy of a mention.

Why?

As a majority of us, such as myself, prefer to interact with a product physically before committing money -particularly large amounts of it -- to it.

For me, it was that I could feel the impact of the laptop's chassis and examine its build however, the same principle applies regardless of what kind of device it's.

Consider the case for books For instance.

It's logical that you can get the same information of a book on your tablet than leatherbound, but the hardback still appears more expensive (and worthy of the expense) when you hold it.

It's an idea that's confirmed by the fact that hardbacks are returning following the industry's top executives have almost signed off on the death certificate of traditional publishing.

Therefore, not having any tangible form of interaction will certainly detract from a product's overall appeal for consumers.

And, no less pertinently having no physical equivalent means that technical issues can quickly bring your company and your customers. Amazon went offline for 40 minutes in 2013 (terrifying isn't it?) This downtime resulted in 5 million dollars as well as a large number of dissatisfied customers.

Although your loss won't be quite as extreme as Amazon's was but it's still something you're faced with when selling only digital products:

If your website goes offline due to a reason, and you don't have a dedicated team to help you get your products back up in the shortest time possible it will eat away at sales until the issue is resolved.

Every minute it's down it's results multiply .

There is, however, an alternative to this, if you're using an IT staff or a platform available to monitor and handle the technical headaches If you don't, you're responsible for all aspects of the downtime, from customer support to resolving hosting issues.

Last but not least, the biggest negative of selling digital products in comparison to physical ones is the competition factor.

There's the reason why digital goods are a favorite choice for entrepreneurs: they're easy to get into and, when executed correctly and properly, they can provide steady income streams.

Something worth bearing in mind as you think about the fact the fact that 19% of small businesses do not succeed due to competitive pressure.

As a recap to help you remember, here are the pros of digital tools:

They're simple to build

There is no middleman

The consumer doesn't have to contend with unexpected costs also.

Digital products can withstand market declines effectively

Control remains in your hands as long as you are able to create the item completely by yourself

Here are some disadvantages:

Many people prefer to purchase big-ticket products at the store

Likewise, simply being able to touch the product in person is a major factor for purchasing choices

Website downtime can cripple your revenues (and induce many-a-migraine)

There's no shortage of competitors.

Once you've got more of a picture of the landscape of digital products, let's get in to the most fun aspect that is the variety of items which you are able to sell on the internet, and what are the ones that are most profitable?

What are the top digital items to sell on the internet?

It was mentioned that big-ticket items are usually easier to sell as physical goods than digital goods, but there's one important caveat we have to note:

Just because something sells for more doesn't mean it's more lucrative than an item that is priced lower.

Ebooks, for instance, usually don't have a price tag of triple-digits However, their market is still rapidly growing :

While an eBook for $40 may not sound like an ideal source of revenue when compared with an online course that retails at $400 in your online store but it could be far better for your financial bottom line.

In one sense, ebooks are typically easier to make than online courses or membership communities. Apart from being lower in cost, they're more appealing to customers that may not be able or willing to commit to expensive items for your shopfront at this point.

Becky Mollenkamp's playbook  is a good example. is much easier to pitch to a potential customer. It's also less expensive as her online training for LinkedIn's small business .

This easier request helps her to promote her course online down the road -- once a customer has purchased something from you it is 27percent more likely to do business with the company in the future than a previous visit.

So, with the understanding that the most profitable digital goods aren't necessarily the most expensive What is the general consensus in the market?

Lectures and audiobooks, similar as what you see below , are being called the new "golden child" of publishing.'

"As customers continue to migrate from traditional formats to digital formats and publishers discover that audiobooks on digital devices are becoming more and more important," explains Adam Rowe .

This assertion is supported with numerous reports from the industry that 2018 was a phenomenal year for sellers of audiobooks in addition to many traditional publishers have were able to attribute substantial revenue growth due to the availability of audiobooks.

Software and applications, particularly ones for mobile devices are yet another lucrative market to tap into which is experiencing exponential growth .

In other words, here's the gist of it:

The most successful digital goods aren't always the most expensive but rather those that require minimum effort from you to sell and create.

If you're seeking opportunities to enter, put your efforts on ebooks, audio tracks, online classes, and applications.

And, of course, make them available in the same way as you would like them to be sold: with your own guidelines.

Digital products roam the world

Digital tools give entrepreneurs the ability to create one time and then sell it on a continuous basis However, it's not always certain what qualifies as digital products -- or the reason you ought to turn to these products.

Here's what you need to know:

A digital product can be described as anything that is purchased and then used completely through technology.

Digital products withstand market trends far better than physical products and easily expand without imposing costs or losing control from the designer.

That said, high-dollar items typically sell better in stores as well, but in order to get accessibility to digital goods, you'll to have to market and push harder against competition.

The best digital items to sell aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest cost. Ebooks and audio files can be great starting points for digital goods.

When you're ready to scale up, you should think about online courses as well as applications. Both market sectors are flourishing and predicted to continue growing in the coming years.

In the end, if you're looking for a platform to market digital goods There are a variety of choices. Marketplaces, websites, and platforms are all strong contenders, but think about the pros and cons of each before you sign up.

Digital offerings aren't the best fit for every business however, if you're a creator looking for a side-hustle which you are able to easily expand and develop into an enviable revenue stream, these are the perfect products.