Digital Goods and Content Companies are Big Winners This Holiday Season

Digital Goods and Content Companies are Big Winners This Holiday Season

Elastic Path research paper reveals 30% of digital goods shoppers anticipate spending more on digital gifts this year

Vancouver, BC, Canada, October 31, 2011 -- Elastic Path Software, the leader in digital commerce technology and expertise, released a research paper entitled, “Virtual Goods Mean Real Money This Holiday.” The paper reveals that attracting the digital goods shopper will mean big business this holiday.

Amid growing economic uncertainty, many American shoppers will hold back on gift spending this holiday season. However, shoppers planning to purchase digital goods—ebooks, game downloads, Facebook credits—are a lonely bright spot.

Elastic Path’s research paper shows that 30% of digital shoppers plan to spend more on gifts this year than last year as compared to only 15% of traditional gift buyers. Those purchasing digital goods also have bigger budgets—$440 on average, which is 40% more than their non-digital counterparts.

“With the digital goods market expected to swell to $36 billion by 2014, digital goods and service providers will be pulling in big profits this holiday season. Some traditional brands have keyed-in on this and embraced the digital market. Mattel, Lego and Crayola, for example, have created ‘app-cessories’—physical toys that interact with Apple gadgets— to lure techno parents,” says Amanda Dhalla ecommerce consultant for Elastic Path. “If you don’t make or sell digital goods, it’s not too late to consider adding third-party apps or digital subscriptions to your ecommerce site—sold with physical products, or as up-sells.”

The research paper offers other recommendations to help companies attract digital shoppers, including maximizing visibility in search and social networks, developing a single view of the customer across all channels, cross-merchandising digital and physical items, and expanding gifting and payment options.

About Elastic Path Software
Elastic Path is the leader in digital commerce technology and expertise for enterprises selling digital goods and services. Major global brands such as Google, Time Inc, and Virgin Media rely on Elastic Path to monetize digital relationships with their customers in ways that are frictionless, social, and everywhere. Web: https://www.elasticpath.com. Blog: www.getelastic.com. Twitter: www.twitter.com/elasticpath