Digital Catalogs and Digital Marketing Strategies for Product Promotion in the Popular and Solidarity Economy: A Community Engagement Experience

This article analyzes the development of digital catalogs as a strategic marketing tool for promoting products within the popular and solidarity economy (EPS), as part of a community engagement project carried out by sixth-semester students from the Digital Marketing program at Universidad Indoamérica. The students, who had already gained experience in web development, worked on creating interactive digital catalogs for 12 local businesses from the province of Pichincha, whose products were already equipped with labels and packaging ready for commercialization. In addition to designing the catalogs, digital marketing elements such as visual content optimization and linking the catalogs to e-commerce platforms and social media were integrated. The results show that the use of digital catalogs not only facilitated the professional presentation of the products but also enhanced consumer interaction and expanded the reach of these businesses in the digital marketplace. This study demonstrates how the collaboration between academia and community can strengthen small businesses, fostering their growth in digital environments. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.