What are digital products and the top-selling ones in Saudi Arabia to start a business?
May 26, 2024
Spending on Digital Products in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia amounts to $1.50 billion, which reflects the wide spread of these intangible goods that are stored and sold electronically, especially in light of the flourishing era of digitalization and the significant technological development that has given a great outlet for both talented people and commercial activities to gain more profits.
Thanks to the internet, anyone can create and sell these products without the need for large capital or complex infrastructure, provided they possess the talent and extensive knowledge in the field they want to work in.
But what are digital products? What are their types? How can they be promoted? And what are the best-selling digital products in Saudi Arabia in 2024? We will answer all these questions and more in the following lines.
First, what are digital products?
Simply put, they are intangible goods that cannot be touched or stored, but are only distributed and used via the internet. This type of product includes a wide range of goods, ranging from e-books, software, and smartphone applications, to educational courses, consulting services, and graphic designs.
Digital products have many advantages that make them an attractive option for consumers and sellers alike:
From the consumer's perspective
Digital products allow for easy access, purchase, and use from anywhere in the world and at any time, and they are characterized by competitive prices due to the low cost of production and storage.
As for sellers
Digital products allow them to reach a global audience without the need for physical restrictions such as retail stores or the need for warehouses to store products, and they allow them to sell their products repeatedly without additional cost, which contributes to achieving large profits.
Digital products have great importance, which we will learn about in this paragraph.
The Importance of Digital Products
In light of the accelerating technological transformations, digital products have become one of the most prominent drivers of the modern economy, and one of the basic elements in e-commerce, entrepreneurship, education, entertainment, and marketing. They are not limited to computer programs or applications only, but include e-books, educational courses, designs, templates, audio and visual files, and other digitally distributable assets. Digital products are important for many reasons, including:
Unlimited Scalability:
The most important feature of digital products is the possibility of selling them to an unlimited number of customers without incurring additional production costs. Unlike physical products that require manufacturing, shipping, and storage, a digital product can be distributed as soon as it is purchased with the click of a button, which makes rapid growth possible at low costs.
Increasing Demand for Digital Content:
The increasing reliance on the internet, distance learning, and freelance work has contributed to the rise in demand for digital content such as training courses, e-books, and productivity tools. Individuals are constantly looking for sources to learn new skills or tools that facilitate their daily or professional lives, which opens the door to great opportunities in this field.
Intellectual Property and Recurring Profit:
A digital product can be a permanent source of income, as it can be sold repeatedly as long as it maintains its quality and value, which provides continuous income. In addition, intellectual property grants its owner exclusive rights to use and distribute, which enhances the long-term value of investing in this type of product.
Opportunities for Creativity and Specialization:
Since digital products depend on knowledge, experience, and creativity, they allow creators and specialists in any field to produce content that reflects their skills and expertise. Whether the person is an expert in marketing, programming, arts, or even cooking, they can create a specialized digital product that serves a specific audience and generates income for them.
What is the difference between digital and conventional products?
There are many differences and variations between digital and conventional products, represented in:
Physical Nature:
Digital products are intangible products, such as e-books, training courses, applications, templates, music, and others that can be downloaded or accessed online.
While conventional (physical) products are tangible products that can be touched and used physically, such as clothes, devices, furniture, and food.
Geographical Spread:
Thanks to their digital nature, digital products can be sold to anyone anywhere in the world, without geographical restrictions or shipping costs. As for conventional products, they require logistical planning to deliver them to different regions, along with the associated costs and risks.
Operating Cost:
Producing a digital product requires only an initial cost, and then the sale can be repeated at almost no additional cost, which makes profits higher.
As for conventional products, each unit of them requires raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, storage, and delivery, which increases the operating cost and reduces the profit margin.
Storage and Inventory:
Digital products do not need any kind of physical storage, as they can be sold and downloaded without the need for warehouses.
While conventional products require physical storage spaces, and are affected by the available inventory, which increases the complexity of management.
Distribution and Delivery Method:
The digital product is delivered immediately after purchase, via a download link, email, or through a digital platform, without any human intervention or shipping.
In contrast, conventional products require shipping, packaging, and delivery processes, and may be subject to delays or damage during shipping.
Modifiability and Update:
Digital products are easy to modify and update, as a new version can be released and the content can be improved at little cost.
As for conventional products, updating or modifying them often requires re-manufacturing or producing new quantities, which is costly and complex.
Risks and Challenges:
Digital products face special risks, such as piracy or unauthorized copying, but they do not face problems with shipping, damage, or returns.
While conventional products are more susceptible to damage, shipping delays, or returns, which adds burdens to the project owner.
And the important question that is raised now:
Why is trading in digital products preferred over physical products?
There are many reasons why trading in digital products is preferred over trading in physical products, and these reasons are summarized in:
Low cost of production and distribution:
The production and distribution of digital products is often much cheaper and faster compared to physical products. For example, the costs of production, shipping, and storage associated with physical products can be saved, which contributes to achieving a larger profit margin for commercial businesses as a result of offering competitive prices to consumers.
Easy access and distribution:
Digital products are easily available online, making them accessible to anyone around the world and obtainable immediately after purchase without the need to wait for the shipment to arrive or go to physical stores, which contributes to giving customers comfort and flexibility and thus increasing sales volume.
Possibility of global expansion:
Trading in digital products allows for easy access to a global audience compared to physical products. For example, digital products can be provided in different languages and adapted to meet the needs of customers in different countries and delivered easily without the logistical barriers faced by physical products, which leads to providing greater opportunities for growth and expansion in global markets.
Developability:
Digital products can be easily updated, improved after their release, and customized to meet customer needs, which ensures they keep pace with changes in consumer behavior and target markets.
It is worth noting that there are many digital products that can be traded, and we will review the best-selling ones in Saudi Arabia below.
Types of Best-Selling Digital Products in Saudi Arabia
First: Electronic Games (Games)
The size of the electronic games market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reached 3.75 billion Saudi riyals (equivalent to one billion US dollars) in 2023, and experts expect it to reach 10 billion Saudi riyals (equivalent to 2.7 billion US dollars) by 2026, driven by the wide spread of the internet and the use of computers and smartphones, as well as the low cost of electronic games and the development of their technologies compared to previous years to be more realistic and exciting.
According to the Saudi Digitization Report for 2023, electronic games come in fourth place in terms of the best-selling products in Saudi Arabia after fashion, electronics, and personal care products, as this category of products is the highest spending by Saudi consumers with a spending value estimated at about 976.4 million dollars.
The number of players consuming electronic games within the Kingdom reached about 21 million players in 2023, and this number is expected to reach 28 million players in 2026. The most popular games in the Kingdom are PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, Call of Duty, FIFA, and Minecraft.
The electronic games industry is one of the huge and successful industries in the Kingdom, especially after the Saudi government launched several initiatives to develop the electronic games sector, such as the initiative to establish a specialized authority to regulate and develop the electronic games sector, and provide financial and logistical support to companies specializing in this sector with the aim of making Saudi Arabia a global center for electronic games in realization of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.
It is worth noting that downloadable electronic games achieved revenues of 170.3 million dollars, network games 43.35 million dollars, and mobile games 1,404 million dollars.
Second: Visual Digital Media (Media)
Visual digital media is one of the common types of digital products that are sold online for the purpose of making a profit. This type of product includes professionally taken or digitally edited photographs, which can be sold to websites, design agencies, blogs, etc., as well as illustrations, videos, music, etc.
Visual digital media in its various types comes in seventh place in terms of the highest spending products in e-commerce by consumers in Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi Digitization Report for 2023:
1.19 million dollars are spent on video games.
206.1 million dollars are spent on on-demand viewing videos available on platforms such as Shahid and others.
Saudi consumers also spend 69.86 million dollars on digital music available on platforms such as Anghami and Spotify.
This reflects the growth of this sector to be a fertile ground for investment and achieving the desired goals.
Third: Electronic Books (eBooks)
They are a type of digital product that represents digital versions of traditional books. E-books differ from paper books in the way they are distributed and consumed. Instead of printed copies that are purchased and transported in paper form, they can be downloaded to electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and e-readers.
This type of digital product has many advantages, including:
The possibility of storing thousands of e-books in one device without the need to occupy large storage spaces, just as is the case with paper books, and thus moving them anywhere easily.
Adjusting the font size and changing the lighting in e-books to suit the different needs of readers.
Providing an interactive reading experience, where readers can click on links, references, and notes to easily search for additional information. They can also update pages, add their personal comments, and share them with others.
Diversity of sources and finding a wide range of e-books in online libraries.
Saving expenses as e-books are often much cheaper than paper books.
We point out that e-books are among the best-selling digital products in Saudi Arabia, with a value estimated at about 38.3 million dollars, and Jarir Bookstore ranked second in the list of the fastest-growing e-commerce sites in the Kingdom last year, thus confirming the status of books and magazines as a popular and booming market in Saudi Arabia.
Fourth: Web and Smartphone Applications (Mobile Apps)
This type of digital product is the most common among users due to its provision of many different services and functions over the internet. Web and smartphone applications vary in their fields and uses, to include entertainment, social networking, e-commerce, education, health, fitness, and others.
There are many reasons that contributed to the spread of web and smartphone applications and made them common and popular among people, and the most prominent of these reasons are:
Ease of access and use: Web and smartphone applications are easy to access and use, as users can access them from anywhere using their mobile devices or computers. They are also characterized by the simplicity of their interfaces and the clarity of their functions, which makes them easy to use even for beginners.
Diversity of services and features: Web and smartphone applications offer a wide range of services and features that meet the different needs of users. These services include entertainment, social networking, online shopping, education, health, fitness, and many other fields.
Interactivity and participation: Web and smartphone applications allow users to interact with each other and share content with others, and they also provide instant notifications about important events and updates, which keeps them constantly informed of what is happening in the world.
Fifth: Electronic Educational Courses (Courses)
The e-learning budget in Saudi Arabia 2023 is estimated at about 189 billion dollars, and the revenues of online learning platforms reached 114.70 million dollars, and the number of users of these platforms is 3.3 million users.
It is a common type of digital product that aims to provide knowledge and learning online. Educational courses are considered an effective way to learn new skills or develop existing skills in a variety of topics and fields such as design, web development, programming, artificial intelligence, marketing, management, entrepreneurship, and learning foreign languages and different cultures.
Digital educational courses are characterized by several advantages, as they are flexible and available around the clock, which allows learners to access them at any time that suits them and from anywhere they desire, provided there is an internet connection. Electronic educational courses include various educational resources such as educational video clips, recorded lectures, interactive materials, tests, and applied tasks.
There are many platforms that are famous for offering this type of digital product represented in electronic educational courses such as: Coursera, Udemy, edX, LinkedIn Learning, and other platforms that can be chosen from according to needs and requirements.
You must know that there are many factors that control the success of selling digital products, regardless of the chosen idea, which we review below.
Pay attention to these factors to achieve success in selling digital products
The success of selling digital products depends on a set of interconnected factors that require great effort to achieve, including:
Product quality:
The digital product must be high quality and provide real value to the user, taking into account ease of use and solving a specific problem or meeting a specific consumer need.
Uniqueness:
It is necessary to understand the nature of the target market and analyze competitors to include competitive features in your digital products that make them unique among competitors, in addition to valuable offers that attract customers and make them choose your product.
User experience:
The user interface should be designed simply and clearly, and provide an interactive and comfortable experience for users. Good technical support and solutions for technical problems that users may face must also be provided.
Building a strong marketing strategy:
The right audience must be targeted for the digital products or services you offer to effectively direct marketing messages and ensure they reach people interested in your product. It is also necessary to use a mix of different marketing channels such as social media, email marketing, paid advertisements, and content marketing to attract the attention of the target audience and urge them to interact and purchase.
Performance evaluation and continuous improvement:
The performance of the digital product must be evaluated periodically, and user feedback must be collected and utilized to improve and develop the product.
Promoting this type of product requires the application of systematic and innovative marketing strategies to achieve the desired goals efficiently and effectively.
Perhaps you are wondering how to make a digital product that achieves tangible success? The answer you will find in this paragraph.
Practical steps, how to make a digital product?
1. Choose a real problem worth solving:
Start by identifying a pressing problem or need faced by your target audience, because the success of any digital product depends on the extent of its actual connection to a problem that people suffer from. You can conduct surveys, review customer comments, and analyze popular content in your field to identify this need or problem and work on innovating a digital product that meets consumer needs and provides them with a solution to their problems.
2. Define your target audience accurately:
Not all people are your audience, so you must know exactly who the people who will buy this product are, what they are interested in, what their ages are, and what challenges they face. The more you know your audience, the greater the chances of your product succeeding.
3. Choose the most appropriate type of digital product:
Determine the form of the product that suits your audience and the problem you are solving. Is it an e-book, a training course, an application, ready-made templates, a podcast, etc.? You must choose the type that provides the required value in the best possible way and is also easy to market.
4. Build a valuable and tempting offer:
Create an irresistible offer that focuses on the result the user will get after purchasing your product. Clarify the benefits, ease of use, and expected return, and provide a guarantee or promotional offer that increases buyer confidence.
5. Plan the user experience from beginning to end:
Develop a complete visualization of how the customer will use the product step by step by answering many questions, including:
How do they get it?
How do they deal with it?
What content will they find?
How do they receive support if needed?
The user experience is a crucial element in customer satisfaction and repeat purchase.
6. Start by creating a preliminary version:
Don't wait to make the perfect product from the start. Create a basic simplified version (Minimum Viable Product) to test the idea and gather feedback. This will save you time and money and give you an opportunity to improve the product before the final version is launched.
7. Design the product with high quality and real value:
Invest in the quality of design and content, whether your product is a book, a course, or an application. Make sure that its appearance and content reflect your professionalism and give the user a rich experience, as quality is a key element in building trust and reputation.
8. Test the product before the official launch:
Let a small group of your target audience try the product and provide you with their feedback, which allows you to modify defects or gaps and provide a better experience upon official launch, and also helps you generate initial reviews.
9. Develop an effective marketing plan for the launch:
Determine the marketing channels you will rely on for promotion (such as email, social media, free content, influencers...). Be sure to create an organized launch campaign that begins with a teasing phase, followed by an official announcement, and then initial offers to attract customers.
10. Monitor performance and continuously develop your product:
After launch, monitor your sales, customer comments, and conversion rates, and use this data to improve the product and release a developed version of it, as continuous development is the secret to long-term success.
The Most Important Digital Product Marketing Strategies
Digital products require smart and effective marketing strategies to raise awareness of them, attract the attention of the target audience, and boost sales. These strategies include, for example:
Relying on interactive content to market digital products and create an attractive experience that motivates the audience to interact and participate through interactive video clips and dynamic presentations, which contributes to building a strong relationship with customers and enhancing their trust in your brand, and thus increasing sales.
Launching systematic advertising campaigns according to smart marketing tactics based on data analysis to accurately target the audience with the digital products or services you offer.
Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques professionally to make your digital products visible in search engine results by targeting the appropriate keywords for your products and including them in product descriptions and titles to improve your ranking in search engines.
Relying on various social media channels to market digital products by publishing valuable and interesting content that expresses the products or services you offer.
Do not hesitate to use new technologies and test innovative ideas to improve your marketing strategies. You should conduct experiments and tests to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and improve them continuously to ensure the effective marketing of digital products and boost sales.
The Most Prominent Features of Digital Products
Digital products have many advantages, including, for example:
Their unlimited potential for sale, as they can be sold to an infinite number of customers without the need for re-production.
Low operating costs, as they do not require raw materials, shipping, or storage.
They are not restricted by geographical boundaries, as they can be sold at any time and from anywhere to anyone around the world.
Ease of updating and developing digital products without significant costs.
Flexibility in work and production, as they can be created and marketed from home and at the pace that suits their owner.
Profitable Digital Product Selling Ideas in 2025
If you want to achieve additional income by selling digital products, here are some ideas that may inspire you to start:
Electronic Educational Courses:
Electronic educational courses are one of the most common and requested digital products, due to their ease of access and low cost of creation, in addition to their diversity to include several fields such as: software development, design, marketing, entrepreneurship, languages, personal skills, and many others. For example, if you have experience in programming, you can create an educational course to learn the Python programming language, and so on.
Ready-made Templates:
Ready-made templates are highly requested digital products, especially for business owners and companies, to save time and effort in creating designs from scratch. The fields of ready-made templates include: website templates, PowerPoint presentation templates, email templates, social media post templates, and others.
Consulting and Training:
This type of digital product has great value due to its provision of specific expertise and knowledge in a particular field to consumers. There are many fields that it includes such as marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, personal development, and others. For example, you can ◦ provide consultations in the field of digital marketing to small companies or run ◦ online training courses to learn new skills for self-development, and so on.
Music and Podcasts:
The popularity of digital music and podcasts is increasing with the spread of the use of smartphones and audio streaming platforms. For example, you can ◦ record an audiobook for a famous novel, or make ◦ a podcast about travel and tourism trips.
A final word
Digital products have formed a real revolution in our contemporary world, as they have contributed to meeting diverse needs for various segments of society. Through ease of access and low cost, these products provide countless opportunities for creativity and innovation, and contribute to enhancing knowledge and developing skills.
However, we should not overlook the challenges facing this field, represented in the protection of intellectual property and data security, which requires double efforts to overcome these challenges to achieve maximum benefit from digital products and contribute to increasing the return on investment.
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