Optimization on Providing Schema of Digital Products with Characteristics of Users and Target Market

Abstract

The decision of providing schema is vital significant for the digital products firms, and firms need to decide whether they should sell the whole (or parts of) functionalities or adopt the subscription strategy (allow the users to pay-per-use when they intend to enjoy these functionalities). The characteristics of users’ preference and firms’ target market are the important perspective to explore this problem. The current work develops a matrix from the dimension of the characteristics of users’ preference and firms’ target market and shows that, if the users’ preference is stable, the digital products firms are supposed to sell the whole (parts of) functionalities when the firms’ target market is the common (specialized) market; however, if the users’ preference is variable, the digital products firms are supposed to adopt the subscription strategy for the whole (parts of) functionalities when the firms’ target market is the common (specialized) market. Moreover, the current work also provides the cases in reality for each providing schema shown in the matrix. The current work provides support for the digital products firms when they decide the providing schema facing the complex market.