Physical products or digital downloads?

mybarya Level 1

August 15, 2017, 9:27 pm

31

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As an affiliate marketing professional, do you have a preference for selling physical products against digital downloads? Or the other way around? What are the advantages of selling one over the other in terms of marketability, marketing cost and projected revenue? What caveats should one watch out for with your preference?

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peachpurple

peachpurple

Given a choice, I would prefer physical products than digital downloads because majority of the customers online are very judgmental. it is easier to sell physical products that you can snap photos, write down the item reviews, pros and cons, where your customers could read and trust your judgement. Physical products are highly searched and accepted.

9 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

True. There would always be trust issues specially when it comes to digital items. That is why it's always necessary, and a must shall I say, to investigate first the seller and check his reputation to the market where you are buying his or her service or product.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

I wonder what the rationale for customers to be choosing the physical products. Maybe they are still used to the ways of the offline commerce that you have to show the tangible products literally. Yesterday we were able to install an old Photoshop version by downloading. We were actually looking for a physical installer but computer shops can only show the newer version which wouldn’t run on our desktop. We just tried searching and now we have a Photoshop running on our desktop courtesy of a download.

8 years ago

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clara1993

clara1993

I prefer to sell digital products because they are easy to manage especially in terms of delivering you can set it to autaumatic delivery like everyone who buys will automatically get the product in his email and they are also affordable in term of investments! While for physical products you always have to add delivering procedures and fees! Which makes it more expencive and time consuming .

9 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

This is one of the main advantage of having digital products. Seems like everything on the Internet nowadays specially in online selling/marketing are automated! From subscription, to email replies and inquiries, etc. You can always stay back and just wait for your phone to beep if there is a customer.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Currently my budget is limited to the digital products. And I am working harder on that part. As you can see physical products have lot of expenses. And in comparison you'd do much better with the digital products. Though there is going to be a cost to add into that too. But all in all you have to consider how the digital products have their own set of limitations. I personally find that digital products are not that bad if they can earn good.

9 years ago

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augusta

augusta

I prefer digital product,because you won't have the problem of delivery.You just set it to automatic download when once payment is done.you won't have the problem of damage or the customer asking a refund after using the product for some days or time.Digital products have fewer hassles

9 years ago

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skinwants

skinwants

The instructions in the documentation you're ready to go. You'll realize that the name of the extension is quite serious.

If your primary product is physical then a digital sales platform is a bad idea. Here are some examples of where selling physical things with EDD is a bad idea.The majority of your products are digital you should look carefully at EDD. If the majority of your products are physical.

9 years ago

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centurion

centurion

As an a zon affiliate your all products will be must physically delivered. But as an IOS affiliate manager -your all products can be digitally download. As an A zon affiliate manager you will get minimum 3% of the product you just sold out. As an IOS products seller- hopefully you will get well commission also. Its fully depend son your choice and mentality.

Thanks
Centurion

9 years ago

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kgord

kgord

Well, physical products may be ideal for most people but obviously digital downloads also work well. I think that you need to figure out what works the best for you and your budget and act accordingly. I am not selling any products so I have not run into this problem in the recent past or future.

9 years ago

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Tronia

Tronia

I personally prefer selling physical products. I don't really have extensive experience with affiliate marketing so it just seems like the best thing to start with until I am at least a bit more familiar with the different tricks. I believe that digital products can be as profitable as physical though. It all depends on what's your niche and your target audience. If it's the newer generation then they won't hesitate to buy digital things.

9 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

I am not an affiliate in any way so I wouldn't know but in my opinion, I would always prefer digital downloads in any day. Physical products are good and all but digitals are the way to go now. It also depends of course on what you are trying to market in the online world. But yeah, digital products are profitable and can guarantee you income.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

I am yet to try digital products for my affiliate marketing. I refer physical products and I get commission when someone buys products from my page. However, I think digital downloads have better chances for selling because digital products cost less than physical products.
People are always proice conscious. However, for some products there are no choice, you will always have to refer physical products.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I do pretty much same as you. And my results with the affiliate marketing are good so far. I think it's not easy to promote the digital products. But if anyone has the traffic then it surely works out. So that being said, I think in future more digital products will be sold compared to the physical products. It's a good opportunity from here onwards.

9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

What I am promoting is primarily eBooks so, of course, I am interested in the digital download. There is also no shipping and handling cost, so clients seem to appreciate that. They can make a payment and have my product instantly, so the digital, for my market, is superior to the physical.

9 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

This is what makes digital marketing stand out and have high demands as opposed to the physical ones. The clients and buyers would always appreciate fast and hassle-free transactions specially because they aren't doing anything tedious on their part. But it is always subjective, and sometimes it depends on what you are selling and what people need.

9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

galegatling,
I offer the physical product as well--it is more expensive, but a lot of people still love holding the text in their hands--it's no wonder that the word "textual" is related to the word "text". A lot of people still really love the physicality of reading, so I have a publisher who provides that too. Thanks, as usual, for your comments.

9 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

Oh. Is it also a short story book or a similar one? That is really nice. But how do you select your clients? Do you ship internationally? Indeed. I sometimes miss the feeling of having a book in my hand and turning the page and sometimes it sticks and I can't even flip it so I have carefully examine the overlapping page and do some detective analysis as to how not to damage them both. Haha. Funny stuff. Thank you also for your prompt response. Physical products or digital downloads?

Physical products or digital downloads?

9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I write fiction and poetry, actually. The poetry tends to sell the best, ironically enough, and that has been surprising. I could ship internationally, I guess, but that has not come up yet. Sometimes, holding the book is the best, even with the sticky pages, lol. You don't get more organic than that.

9 years ago

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giovanniiiii

giovanniiiii

I would rather get physical products since I find the worth of my money when I get my hands on a tangible product, but the case is not the same with video games for me. It may take a while for the physical products to arrive to my country but I think it will be worth the wait. If it's a book and there is an ebook version of it, I guess I will have to settle with the digital copy if the book itself is trending.

9 years ago

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ballyhara

ballyhara

Based on experience, I would say digital products are the ones on top right now, and of course this will keep growing up. You don't need to pay the sending, you can have it right there in the moment, usually client already knows what he wants and he gets what he wants. But we still have people who prefer physical products, like my mom. So when you are running a business, you have to think in all your clients, and you have to offer and have available both physical and digital. That will help you get a wider range of customers and clients, and a better perspective of your business.

9 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

That's right. But it will still be long before physical products tend to lose their demands in the online world. Sure, digitals are the way to go but we cannot really just get anything from the those products. We also need to have physical products from time to time too.

9 years ago

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Authord

Authord

Hmm, if you love yourself don't ever download pictures, always snap the actual products and display to prevent stories that touches the heart and bad reviews.
That's why people always complain that what they see online is not what they get when the products arrives and this is very bad. People who download pictures to show clients, when they know the psychical product is not in any way looking like the downloaded picture should be arrested for scam. because that's day light robbery.
I don't buy the idea of downloading pictures of products at all.

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

I'm sure as an affiliate seller, people don't tend to have preferences. But if you're an actual seller then I'm sure they prefer to sell physical products because it's easy to deal with if there are any disputes. There is a much higher risk of having chargeback claims if you sell a digital download especially codes (I have experienced this many times as an eBay seller but luckily PayPal sided with me with every single claim except one but that one claim cost me £20).

9 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

I've heard about these disputes and also heard about PayPal refunding prompty but I still wonder how this works. Will PayPal deduct the same amount from the seller or buyer who is in the wrong? And if so, how do you prove that what you are claiming is true? What do PayPal usually ask?

9 years ago

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Pixie06

Pixie06

I have not yet tried to sell any digital products but I prefer to buy digital products like eBooks. Firstly many eBooks are sold at a much lower price than physical books which helps me in saving some money. I can download the eBook and it is instantly available to me. The other advantage is that there are different ways through which I can pay. Selling physical products do have some drawbacks for example you will still have to bear storage and insurance costs.

9 years ago

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Barida

Barida

I would have to go with physical products for reasons such as having repeated sales in the future. One thing with dealing on physical products as an affiliate marketer is that it is going to enable you meet up with clients and through that, develop a connection with them for future business purposes.

9 years ago

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jaymish2

jaymish2

I prefer digital downloads. As an entrepreneur you do whatever get's you the biggest commission, even if this means both. However a lot can go wrong with physical products e.g they can malfunction, they can be of poor quality ,they can fail to be delivered e.t.c. You need to remember as an affiliate it is your reputation on the line. If the seller makes a mistake you lose the customer, the commission and any chance at future sales. I prefer digital as not much can go wrong.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

In the years to come, physical products with counterpart of digital downloads will be obsolete because of the convenience of digital downloads. Take for instance music, physical musical album is becoming a rarity and record bars are complaining of poor sales in spite of the promotions like 50% discount. Digital download is now the name of the game instead of physical products.

9 years ago

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Jeane

Jeane

IMO affiliate marketers shouldn't prefer either physical or digital downloads. What should matter more is whether someone will buy the products that you are promoting. In the health niche for example, there are many affiliates who promote physical products like training equipment and it makes them decent money.

Personally, I would promote both physical and digital products. I wouldn't try to find out which of them would make me money as long as I get my commission each time someone buys anything I promote.

8 years ago

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