The rise of e-learning and virtual classrooms started long before the pandemic. The Great Courses has been on board with this concept since 1990, providing academic knowledge and certifications on a wide variety of topics. The 2000’s saw the emergence of the massive open online course (MOOC) with the idea to bring education to anyone who wanted it. The global e-learning market has exploded from $165.36 billion in 2014 to a projected $243 billion in 2022.

To say that a profit potential exists is a gross understatement.

The shift to the virtual classroom was inevitable. COVID-19 gave it the proverbial kick it needed to get moving. The silver lining the pandemic brought to the forefront included familiarity with this delivery platform. The early MOOC years allowed burgeoning companies to work out the kinks. 

Providers had to contend with educator acceptance of the technology and its delivery. Then, there were the looming questions of security and the prevention of cheating. Many of these issues have been solved, making it easier than ever for a website to sell digital products. Today, users can purchase downloadable files, whether they’re videos, music, audiobooks, or online courses.

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EdTech everywhere

You have only to look at the presence of education technology to see where the opportunities lie if an individual or business wants to sell a digital product. Consider these facts. 

• About 93% of elementary and high school teachers conduct at least some online classes.
• A whopping 45.5% of post-secondary students are getting their degrees exclusively through distant learning.
• Even medical educators have adopted more online resources in the wake of the pandemic and demands on medical personnel.
• US organizations spent $92.3 billion on staff training in 2021, an increase of over 10% from 2020.

Challenges of going digital

The success of digital products depends on understanding this platform from the consumer’s perspective and the businesses’ point of view. It’s worth taking a page from Coursera, the world’s largest MOOC provider, and its market reach. While enterprise profits topped $80 million in 2021, the consumer segment more than doubled that amount. The takeaway is to focus on your entire market.

It’s also helpful to look at the buyer experience. One of the glaring issues is the cart abandonment rate, which is currently about 81.08%. That includes both physical and digital products. Some of the main reasons that individuals cited are:

• Hidden and often high costs
• Account creation
• Complicated checkout process
• Trust

Understanding these concerns is essential if you decide to sell digital downloads. It’s also worth mentioning that people usually share their bad experiences with others and on social media. However, keeping and marketing from a digital library offers several advantages that make it a lucrative proposition. After all, the online world is here to stay.

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Benefits of selling digital educational material

Selling digital products opens up new markets that you couldn’t reach otherwise. Your overhead costs are reduced with no limit on your virtual inventory. You can fulfill orders instantly with no shipping costs. Remember – buyers want instant gratification. That’s part of the reason e-commerce sites like Amazon succeed with free, fast delivery.

Many barriers that keep potential customers from hitting the “Buy Now” button are gone with the rise of e-learning and online services. People are more comfortable with technology and the internet. In fact, being able to learn any time, anywhere, at the click of a button has made it much more convenient for people with fast-paced lifestyles to learn on the go. It’s excruciating to take three hour classes after a long day of work; it’s so much easier to watch easily digestible six-minute videos on the bus while you’re going home.

On the seller side, it’s also much easier to host a class online and sell comprehensive courses packed into a digital folder, than it is to host students in a classroom. Thankfully, there are lots of tech tools in the market that make it extremely easy to do just that.

Explore The Future of digital products in an evolving e-commerce world.

Host your digital classroom

Sky Pilot offers a seamless solution to reach customers with a suite of downloadable digital products, from ebooks to courses to videos. It empowers you to create a catalog of all your digital products in easy-to-navigate folders, and its one-click purchase system with immediate delivery leads to an efficient customer experience. Moreover, your customers can access their purchased products at any time through a single account, so they never lose track of their educational material.

Additionally, Sky Pilot offers an entirely customizable landing page so you can stay on-brand. 

One of the best features of Sky Pilot is that it is mobile-friendly. That’s significant, given that the revenue from m-commerce is poised to more than double by 2025. A site that doesn’t cater to mobile users wastes opportunities to grow their business. Sky Pilot helps you stay ahead of the game and ride the wave into the future.

Final thoughts

The pandemic caused many unintended consequences, both for good and bad. On a positive note, it helped propel the educational technology market to new levels. It also brought more opportunities for businesses to enter the digital marketplace with new ways to leverage their brands’ online presence. E-commerce and m-commerce have and will continue to benefit from this paradigm shift.

Sky Pilot provides an excellent way to create your online store with tools to manage your files and digital downloads. It’s hard not to fall in love with the profits of passive income. Start your 14-day free trial today.

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