The global generic e-learning market, often referred to as off-the-shelf (OTS) content, has come a long way from the clunky click-next modules of the early 2000s. Today, it represents a multi-billion dollar industry, encompassing compliance training, professional skills, leadership development, digital fluency, and everything in between.
Yet despite its scale and maturity, the market is at a crossroads, where legacy approaches are being challenged by new expectations, emergent technologies, and shifting workforce dynamics.
As someone who’s worked at the intersection of talent, tech and transformation for more than a decade, I see this not as a crisis, but as an inflection point. One that invites L&D leaders to reimagine what off-the-shelf learning could be, and how it can power performance and culture across organisations big and small.
The Major Players: Familiar Faces and Strategic Consolidation
The current landscape is dominated by a few recognisable names. Skillsoft, LinkedIn Learning, Coursera for Business, and Udemy Business continue to hold substantial market share, especially among large enterprises. More recently, Go1 and OpenSesame have positioned themselves as marketplaces, offering access to multiple providers through a single subscription model, an approach that appeals to organisations seeking breadth and flexibility.
Consolidation is also shaping the field. Companies like Learning Pool and 360Learning have acquired smaller providers or platforms to extend their reach. The result is an ecosystem that’s broad, but also increasingly complex to navigate.
While large players offer vast catalogues, the challenge is differentiation. Many courses still rely on passive consumption, dated instructional design, or generic scenarios that fail to resonate with learners on the ground. This is a growing concern for organisations seeking return on investment, not just content completion.
The Current Challenges: Content Fatigue and Relevance Gaps
Let’s be honest, learners are weary of vanilla content. The surge in remote work and digital transformation initiatives post-2020 led to a boom in e-learning demand, but it also flooded organisations with poorly targeted, low-impact modules.
The result? Content fatigue. Completion rates have stagnated. Learners skip, skim, or disengage entirely. Worse, in some sectors, mandatory training has become a compliance checkbox rather than a behaviour-shifting experience.
Organisations are also grappling with the relevance gap. While off-the-shelf content offers scale and cost efficiency, it rarely aligns perfectly with a company’s specific culture, language, or strategic context. This limits its ability to drive real change or support nuanced capability building.
The irony is that while we’ve never had more content, we still struggle to meet the individual and contextual needs of modern learners.
Emerging Technologies: Generative AI, Personalisation and the Rise of the Learning Stack
Fortunately, we are entering a period of rapid innovation and it’s reshaping the art of the possible.
Generative AI is the most significant disruptor. Tools like Synthesia, ElevenLabs and ChatGPT are enabling hyper-personalised learning content at scale, whether it’s text-based explainers, conversational simulations or AI-generated videos. For off-the-shelf providers, this unlocks the ability to dynamically adapt courses based on job role, skill gap, or language preference, without needing to develop the content from scratch.
Microlearning and adaptive learning are also gaining ground, supported by smarter analytics. Platforms like Sana Labs and Area9 Lyceum are leading the charge in AI-driven personalisation, where the learning path evolves based on real-time learner performance.
At the same time, the traditional LMS is giving way to more modular, API-driven ecosystems. Organisations are building out ‘learning stacks’ that integrate curated content, internal knowledge, collaborative tools, and skills frameworks. Off-the-shelf content still has a place, but it must plug in, not stand alone.
Practical Insights: What Organisations Can Do Now
For learning leaders, the task is not to abandon generic content, but to make smarter, more strategic use of it. Here are a few practical ways to do that:
- Curate with Context: Rather than overwhelming learners with access to everything, focus on curating collections that support specific behaviours, values or business goals. Context is king.
- Blend to Fit: Off-the-shelf content works best when it’s part of a blended experience, complemented by coaching, peer learning or internal case studies. Use it to seed knowledge, not to replace conversation.
- Demand More from Vendors: Push providers to demonstrate impact, not just content volume. Ask for evidence of engagement data, learning efficacy, and roadmap alignment with emerging tech.
- Upskill L&D Teams in Tech: The future of content delivery is increasingly technical. Learning teams need confidence in data, platforms, and AI tools to make informed choices.
- Co-create, Don’t Just Consume: Some of the most powerful learning assets are co-developed with internal experts. Look for platforms that let you mix external content with your own IP.
A Future Full of Possibility
If the last five years were about digitising content, the next five will be about personalising it. The organisations that thrive will be those who view off-the-shelf learning not as a shortcut, but as a component in a thoughtful, evolving strategy. One that’s human-centred, data-informed, and deeply connected to business impact.
As an industry, we must move beyond the idea that more content equals more learning. Instead, we should aim for better fit, smarter delivery, and deeper relevance.
The tools are now within reach. The challenge, and the opportunity, is how we use them.
