Digital products increasingly likely to be sold under the banner of their own online store

Several months of impediments to teaching lessons, courses or presentations have forced thousands of people to change their approach to work. Some have re-branded themselves, some are teaching from home, but a sizable group of creatives have encapsulated their knowledge in e-books and recordings, which can now be purchased from newly opened online stores.

A recent report by the Polish Economic Institute indicates that already half of Internet users pay to access video content online. In turn, data from the Statista service from the end of last year shows that 61.8 percent of Poles have paid at least once in the past month for digital content. The belief that has accompanied the Internet from its very beginnings - that everything on the Web must be free - is slowly disappearing.

This is good news for creators, trainers or educators who, until recently, were expected to share their knowledge for free on social media, and make money elsewhere from the popularity they gained online. During the pandemic, when holding meetings "in real life" became difficult or even impossible, they began to look for how to sell their knowledge online. More and more online stores selling e-books and multimedia content are being set up on the Shoper platform. Customers read them eagerly on modern smartphones and tablets.

- Previously, it was customary that when a blogger set up an online store, he sold T-shirts and gadgets in it, while what he actually specialized in, he offered only offline. Lockdown apparently unlocked the business creativity of the creators. It turned out that a fitness workout could be filmed, broken down into lessons and each sold as a video file to be downloaded or played from a web-based player. The tools that make this possible have long existed. An online store running on a SaaS platform such as Shoper can successfully handle this," says Artur Halik, Head of Sales Shoper.

One of the more common digital products sold on the Shoper platform is the e-book, and the genre that reigns supreme in creator-run stores is the fashion guide - usually authored by the seller himself. Dandycore, which runs an online store on the platform, has released a whole series of e-book fashion hints for all seasons, following the success of its book on men's fashion.

A rich set of e-books, so many with menus, is sold in her store AgaCake, fitness trainer Agata Lyzinskaya. Vegan diet promoter Anna Koczwara has a series of "Plant Foodbooks" in her CrueltyFreeAnn store. Monika Kaminska, who primarily sells good quality clothing made from natural fabrics in her e-store, has supplemented her collections with e-books explaining the properties of wool and linen, and how the type of material we wear affects our well-being.

- For a person who has been developing his life's passion for years and has achieved expert status in a given topic, e-book guides are one of the most profitable things he can sell over the Internet. The text is usually created on the basis of one's own experience, so it does not require a huge amount of research work, the cost of composition is not high. Unlike tangible products, files don't need to be packaged and shipped by courier, and the warehouse will never run out of stock, so for years they can bring almost completely pure profit," encourages Artur Halik.

Paul Albrecht's store also has several e-books and audiobooks on offer. In them, the author explains how to invest successfully, especially in real estate. However, the ingenuity of the blogger and business advisor does not end with e-books. You can also buy and download from the store up-to-date contract templates necessary for real estate managers. There are also video training courses on more specific issues, as well as remote one-and-a-half-hour 1-on-1 business consultations.

Iwona Pajewska's photo studio doesn't sell photos in her store (although these are also popular digital products, usually made available through photo banks) but fabulous digital backgrounds and overlays for baby photos do. Specializing in pregnancy and newborn photography, the artist has made her store a place where other adepts in the field can hone their skills. She also offers a range of courses in the form of a series of short videos - both of photographing and photo editing.

- Not every seller of digital products on our platform was previously an influencer with thousands of fans just waiting for his book or online workshop. Sometimes the scenario can be the opposite. Along with the store, the owner gets access to a set of tools to support sales, including Google search and Facebook ad campaigns targeting people who are interested in a particular topic. Having your own online store and gaining customers this way, you can build an impressive community around you, ready to pay for specialized and paid content, notes Artur Halik of Shoper.