With the rapid iteration of cutting-edge technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, large language models, and intelligent agents, coupled with increasing demand for interactive and personalized learning experiences among the new generation of learners — the digital natives — educational publishing institutions are under unprecedented pressure to transform. This urgency is further intensified by the accelerated deployment of tech giants such as iFLYTEK, Tencent, and ByteDance into the smart education sector. Amidst these multifaceted external changes and competitive pressures, advancing the digital-intelligent transformation of educational publishing institutions has become imperative.

Taking the Vocabgo product series of Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press as a case study, this paper examines its product architecture and the construction of personalized learning paths, summarizes its key success factors, and explores feasible approaches for educational publishers to achieve digital and intelligent transformation.

First, the paper outlines Vocabgo’s product system and operational mechanisms. The Vocabgo series comprises several modules: the English Vocabulary Smart Learning Platform, the English Vocabulary Smart Learning Handbook, digital courses, and competition preparation packages. The platform utilizes WeChat account as an entry point, covering the entire teaching cycle of instruction, learning, practice, and assessment. The print handbooks can be digitally activated via access codes, enabling an effective transition from offline paper-based resources to online learning services. Digital courses offer personalized learning and vocabulary exercises built upon the physical textbooks, while the competition preparation packages provide specialized training for participants of the “SFLEP Vocabgo Cup” National College Students’ English Vocabulary Proficiency Competition, thereby achieving effective product monetization.

Second, the study analyzes the underlying success factors: ① Leveraging large-scale corpus resources, adaptive learning, and AI algorithms to achieve a digital leap in product form, upgrading from static vocabulary print books to a dynamic data-driven smart teaching and learning platform; ② Developing supporting services tailored to specific teaching scenarios and achieving low-cost user acquisition through WeChat’s lightweight interface; ③ Upgrading service value into an ecological advantage, forming a complete closed loop of user onboarding, activation, retention, dissemination, and conversion through the synergy of print materials, digital courses, platforms, and competitions; ④ Establishing flexible teams and performance evaluation systems for digital business.

Finally, the successful practice of the Vocabgo product series indicates that the feasible path for digital-intelligent transformation of educational publishing institutions lies in: ① Defining a strategic positioning shift from “content provider” to “teaching service provider”; ② Constructing service scenarios centered on teaching demands; ③ Building an endogenously growing service ecosystem; ④ Establishing agile teams and long-term incentive mechanisms.