Offering Digital Collectibles (DCs) alongside your traditional products is a tremendous opportunity for businesses to expand and reach new audiences.

The biggest takeaway from diving into the Digital Collectibles rabbit hole, is that DC popularity has no signs of slowing down. Even as the crypto market is down, adoption and sales continue to trend upward.

Are Digital Collectibles just a craze?

Only time will tell, but there are strong signals to suggest they’ll be sticking around for a while.

The staggering growth of DC popularity is in no small part due to its passionate community of collectors, talented digital artists and opportunistic entrepreneurs who invest into DCs offering utility and rewards.

In fact, it appears the biggest growth in the space is yet to come. In the first half of 2022 alone, the DC market value has already matched the market value of all of 2021. Even amidst falling crypto prices, overall DC sales are going up by as much as 54%.
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Selling Digital Collectibles to your customers is an easy way to step into the world of Web3 while generating some extra revenue. After all, they’re digital products with no inventory to manage and no risk of damage during delivery or handling (unlike physical products); a win on its own.

They practically market themselves

When you move past the intrinsic value of Digital Collectibles, you’ll find they can offer much more to your store and customers than just a digital artwork for display.

Let’s say you’re a coffee shop owner with an online store. You sell your own coffee beans and also sell a handful of original t-shirt designs with your brand on them.

Your customers are coffee fiends, enthusiasts, addicts, some would call them ‘coffee snobs’ (not me, I think your customers are cool) - point is: They really love coffee and your product.

One day you decide to offer Digital Collectibles alongside your products. The DC artwork itself can be as simple as a picture of the physical product counterpart, your store’s logo, or anything you like. Your customers become incentivised to purchase your DCs when they learn that you offer special offers and discounts to token holders. Everyone loves a good rewards program, and this in turn creates customer loyalty.

The power of metadata

Now, here’s the exciting part: Each of these digital assets contains metadata which links back to your store or product.

Every time your Digital Collectibles are claimed by your customers, they are simultaneously appearing on OpenSea. If you’re unfamiliar with OpenSea, it’s like eBay or Amazon for Digital Collectibles, with over 1 million active users and is one of the top 500 most visited websites globally. Any one of those million users can stumble on an DC from your store, and find your business through metadata.

Remember how your customers are cool coffee enthusiasts? Well, some of them have started framing their DCs (of your products!) in their own metaverse spaces, like Spatial and Decentraland. Now when they gather virtually with their fellow coffee aficionados and barista friends, they’re able to show off their favourite coffee bean range, or the new t-shirt design they purchased from you last week.

The opportunities to expand your brand and grow your business organically through these new Web3 marketing channels is exciting, and the technology is only getting more robust.

Updated Aug 9, 2022: Instagram and Facebook now let you post Digital Collectibles with verified proof of ownership.