In today’s digital age, selling digital products has become a highly profitable business, with countless success stories from artists and creators around the world who have made a significant income from selling their work online. The good news is that selling digital products on Shopify is easier than you think.
This article will guide you step-by-step through the process of selling digital products on Shopify and highlight some of the most popular and easy-to-sell digital products on the platform, helping you set up and grow your online store effectively.
What Are Digital Products?
Digital products are intangible goods that are sold and delivered electronically. These products are available for download and can be easily distributed online. Some examples include:
Music files (MP3s)
E-books or PDFs
Software or plugins
Artwork or photography
Design templates
Online courses
Stock videos and animations
Digital products are ideal for entrepreneurs who want to create something once and sell it over and over again without worrying about physical inventory.
Why Selling Digital Products Is a Great Business Idea
Selling digital products on Shopify offers several advantages over selling physical items. Here are some reasons why this business model is appealing:
1. Low Costs
Digital products require little to no overhead costs. There are no expenses for raw materials, production, packaging, shipping, or storage. Once the product is created, you only need to maintain your website and pay for any ongoing product development or marketing efforts.
2. High-Profit Margins
Because there are no manufacturing or shipping costs associated with digital products, the profit margins are much higher compared to physical goods. After the initial creation of the product, you can sell it indefinitely, and each sale becomes a new stream of income.
3. Sell Anytime, Anywhere
With digital products, you never have to worry about running out of stock. Since the products are virtual, your store can sell unlimited quantities to an unlimited number of customers, 24/7. This creates a passive income opportunity that requires minimal effort after the product is developed.
4. Easy Customer Access
When customers purchase digital products, you gain access to their email addresses, which allows you to advertise other products or services you offer. This is particularly useful for building an email list and launching new products to a ready-made audience.
5. No Shipping or Storage Hassles
Since digital products are delivered electronically, there’s no need for a complicated shipping process. You can sell worldwide without worrying about logistics, shipping delays, or international tariffs.
6. Barrier-Free Entry
Anyone with creativity and technical skills can create digital products. Whether you're an author, musician, graphic designer, or software developer, you can easily create and sell digital products on Shopify without the need for a big budget or complex infrastructure.
7. Global Market Reach
Digital products can be sold to anyone, anywhere in the world. You can target a global audience without worrying about the challenges of international shipping. Shopify allows you to set up payment gateways that can handle transactions in multiple currencies, making it easier to reach international customers.
Steps to Start Selling Digital Products on Shopify
1. Set Up Your Shopify Store
Start by creating an account with Shopify. Choose the plan that best fits your business needs, and customize your store with a professional design. Shopify provides many themes to choose from, or you can use page builder apps like GemPages to create a custom design.
2. Install Digital Download Apps
Install apps like Digital Downloads or SendOwl to enable the automatic delivery of digital products. These apps make it easy to manage orders and provide seamless downloads to customers once they've made a purchase.
3. Upload Your Products
Once your store is ready, you can start uploading your digital products. This could include e-books, courses, digital art, audio files, or other downloadable content. Ensure that your products are clearly organized for easy navigation.
4. Optimize Your Store for SEO
Optimize your product pages and store content with relevant keywords to help your store rank higher on search engines. This will drive organic traffic to your website. Make sure your store is mobile-friendly and fast to load to enhance the user experience.
5. Set Your Pricing and Payment Methods
Determine how much you want to charge for your digital products and choose payment methods. Shopify supports a variety of payment gateways, including PayPal, credit cards, and Shopify Payments, so you can easily accept payments globally.
6. Promote Your Store
To drive traffic to your Shopify store, implement a solid digital marketing plan. Utilize social media marketing, influencer collaborations, email marketing campaigns, and content marketing to reach potential customers. You can also offer special discounts or limited-time offers to encourage purchases.
Best Shopify Apps for Selling Digital Products
Here are some easy-to-create and high-demand digital products that can generate significant profits:
FileMate Digital Downloads Products is an easy-to-use app designed to help Shopify store owners sell and deliver digital products quickly and efficiently. This app enables you to add non-physical items such as PDFs, MP3s, images, and other downloadable content directly to your store, providing a seamless experience for both you and your customers.
Rating and Reviews: 5.0
Key Features:
Seamless Integration with Shopify: Unlike other apps that require you to manage files outside your Shopify store, FileMate operates entirely within Shopify. After installation, simply add your digital file to the product page. No need for additional tools or external websites.
Instant File Delivery: Once a customer completes a purchase, they receive a direct download link along with an email containing the download link. This ensures that your customers get instant access to their purchased files, enhancing their shopping experience.
Unlimited File Storage: FileMate offers unrestricted storage for your digital products. You can upload and store as many files as you like, with the only limitation being that no individual file can exceed the 5GB size limit.
Easy Reporting: Track your digital sales and downloads directly from Shopify. The app allows you to monitor your digital products' performance, making it easier to manage your inventory and sales reports.
Simple Setup and Use: FileMate is straightforward to install and use, even for those with little technical experience. Simply upload your digital file, and it will be ready for sale on your store in no time.
Pricing and Plans: Free
Whether you’re selling e-books, music, software, or any other digital content, FileMate Digital Downloads makes it simple to manage your products and deliver them instantly to your customers. With its intuitive interface and no-cost plan, this app is a great choice for Shopify merchants looking to sell digital products.
Digital Downloads is a well-known Shopify-developed app that provides a quick method to add non-physical items to your store. Additionally, you can use the reporting by adding your digital attachments to a variant.
Rating and Reviews: 2.7
Key Features:
Simplicity: Instead of directing you to another website, this app operates within Shopify. After installation, it directs you to a product page where you may add a file to an item.
Customers Get Files Instantly: Your customers receive a direct download and a connection through email after checkout.
No Overall Storage Restrictions: This app allows you to save as many files as you like, but no file can exceed the 5GB file size limit.
Pricing and Plans: Free
You may use SendOwl to sell digital goods, including software, ebooks, audio, and other types of files on your Shopify store.
Rating & Reviews: 4.1
Key Features:
Moment and Planned Conveyance: Shopify digital downloads are provided through a secure, lapsing download connection to protect your files from unwanted attention.
Reliability: You get the assistance of a full-time team whose sole job is to develop and expand SendOwl. There are no seasonal employees here.
Proven Execution: This app has successfully delivered more than 8 million requests for Shopify users, making it the only automated delivery application available on Shopify Plus.
Pricing and Plans:
Another excellent app for controlling Shopify digital downloads and monitoring who has access to your premium content is FetchApp. With the help of FetchApp, you can manage the number of times a product can be downloaded as well as how long a download link is valid.
Rating and Reviews: 4.1
Key Features:
Adaptable to Your Needs: Attach several files to a single item, pair a single record with many things, or limit downloads by time, volume, or both.
Simple Order Management: Receive orders from various trucks and entryways and manage from a single location. Orders may be physically terminated, returned, or sent again at any moment.
No Commission Fees: It doesn't charge commission for your transactions. Only your capacity demands determine monthly fees.
Pricing and Plans:
Klaviyo is a wonderful option if you want to set up and start mailing immediately. Regularly sending "learning boosts" to your email list is a terrific strategy to stay top-of-mind and make sure that your audience continues to benefit from your material.
Rating and Reviews: 3.9
Key Features:
Integration: Subscribers are instantly added to an address book. You can build automated emails to promote customer reviews, make product suggestions, and provide excellent thought leadership material to their inboxes.
Synchronization: Sync your real-time and historical store data to help keep track of every interaction.
Pre-built Email Templates: This app contains a variety of pre-built email templates to help you launch your campaigns.
Pricing and Plans:
Wow, all good apps. I like FileMate the best.