Ebooks, videos, online courses, music, templates, and other digital items are easy to sell and distribute online, and often pair well with physical products and services. Digital products are crucial to ecommerce and, in 2025, have generated more than $124 billion. The ease of producing digital products is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to create entire businesses and brands.
By selling digital products, you unlock the potential for passive income. Digital products can be created once and sold repeatedly to different customers, making them ideal for creatives, bloggers, educators, and freelancers looking for ways to make money online.
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What are digital products?
Digital products are goods that exist in a digital format. These include ebooks, music, videos, digital art, software, online courses, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), AI-generated content, and virtual goods sold inside video games, like Roblox, or metaverse platforms.
They’re typically delivered to customers via download, email, or gated access to an online platform, and offer businesses a way to provide value without holding physical inventory.
Digital products have evolved to include interactive experiences, subscription-based content, and blockchain-verified digital assets like NFTs (a $504 million market in 2025). These innovations create opportunities for entrepreneurs and creators to monetize expertise in ways not possible just a few years ago.
Why sell digital products? Seven key advantages
There are advantages to selling digital products over physical items:
- Low overhead costs. With digital goods, you don’t need to hold inventory, pay for shipping, or worry about supply chain disruptions.
- High profit margins. Digital products typically achieve profit margins of 90% after fees, since they have few recurring costs and you retain more sales revenue. Always calculate your profit margins before listing a product for sale.
- Potential to automate. Orders can be delivered instantly, using a gated social media platform or apps like Shopify’s Digital Downloads app.
- Flexible products. There are many options for incorporating digital products into your business: offer free products to build your email list, paid subscriptions for access to exclusive content, or licenses to use your digital products.
- Explore new technology. Digital products can help you monetize new technologies like the blockchain and AI.
- Elearning is increasingly popular. Online educators use digital products to expand their businesses, with the e-learning industry expected to be worth $848 billion by 2030.
- Environmentally friendly. Digital products tend to have a lower carbon footprint than physical goods.
Where to sell digital products
Sell your digital products on multiple channels to increase your reach and expose more people to your brand:
- Start an online store to list your digital products, promote your brand, and publish content that appeals to your audience.
- Promote your digital products on social media by setting up social storefronts, so users can check out while they scroll.
- Create profiles on digital product marketplaces within your niche to access an established audience.
Remember, some marketplaces can take up to 50% commission for each sale. Avoid seller fees by building your own store.
11 best digital products to sell online (with examples)
1. Online courses
Online courses are the best way to present in-depth content in a monetized digital format. You can create a slide deck, record a video walkthrough, or develop a multisession course featuring the voices of subject-matter experts.
Once created, your course can be taken by thousands (or millions) of students. You only need to make updates when your content becomes outdated or loses relevancy.
2. Ebooks
If you are the subject matter expert for an online course, you could also package your expertise as an ebook. Ebooks are a familiar digital format across audiences and can be accessed via an e-reader, computer, or mobile device. You can write an ebook on anything—but before you commit to a topic, research the availability of free content on your subject.
3. Printable digital products
This category of digital products includes a range of print-at-home items, from personalized wall art and greeting cards to models for 3D printers or craft activities. Customers can download and print your designs for personal use, or as part of their own craft.
4. Digital templates and tools
Digital products also come in the form of tools, equipping professionals to do tasks more quickly or competently. You can sell digital solutions to common pain points within a role or common online task, such as video editing.
- Digital marketing strategy templates for entrepreneurs
- Résumé templates for job-seekers
- Prompt templates for AI models
- Website themes for popular platforms
5. Licensed digital content
From stock photos to video footage, music, and sound effects, there’s a global ecosystem of licensable digital assets uploaded by creatives for other creatives to use in their work.
6. Premium content libraries
If you’ve had success selling an online course or ebook, or from licensing content, one way to evolve your offering is to bundle your creations. You can provide full access to your entire catalog of digital products for a monthly or yearly subscription—or a one-time fee.
7. Product photography
If you’re a photographer, selling your services online can be a lucrative business. Thanks to the rise of ecommerce, professional product photos have never been in higher demand. The stock photography market reached $5.09 billion in 2025.
8. Music, art, and entertainment
Digital product ideas don’t have to be purely functional. If you’re a musician, artist, or content creator, chances are you’ve explored ways to monetize your talents online. Beyond artistic and entertaining content, there’s a whole world of merchandise and branded digital products.
9. Digital services
Services pair well with digital products. A designer can offer a logo-creation service alongside downloadable templates. A personal trainer might offer live personal training sessions to their workout plan subscribers.
10. Digital memberships
Digital memberships are golden tickets to an exclusive community centered around your brand or content. Joining your digital club could bestow members with access to premium content, the opportunity to purchase limited-edition merchandise, or tickets to events.
11. AI-enhanced digital products
AI technology has created new opportunities for digital creators in 2025. These products typically combine AI with human expertise to solve specific problems. Focus on creating products to solve specific industry problems rather than general-purpose tools.
How to create and sell digital products
1. Find or create a digital product
To find a digital product to sell, you can create your own digital products or become an affiliate partner for an existing creator. When generating ideas, think about what you are good at, how you can help your customers, and what ways you could bring your community together.
2. Product validation
Validate your idea before committing too much time to it. Here are some ways to validate your idea:
- Keyword research: Use a keyword research tool to see how many people are searching for your topics.
- Google Trends: Search your topics on Google Trends.
- Facebook groups: A great place to learn what your potential customers care about.
- Product reviews: Read both the reviews for your products and competitors’ products to get ideas.
3. Create an online store
Make a website to sell your digital products. Design your store with AI to quickly create a custom theme tailored to your digital product business, or pick from a catalog of website templates. Populate with your logo, copy, and images, and you’re ready to start selling.
4. Market your digital products
With a digital product and an online store sorted, it’s time to find your customers. If you’re selling fonts or design templates, build an audience of designers and creators on the social platforms they use most.
Sales and marketing tips for selling digital products
- Create compelling digital product previews: Effective previews can help address customer uncertainty.
- Build trust with social proof: Feature verified purchase badges and include specific metrics in case studies.
- Use social media strategically: Create platform-native tutorials and host live demonstrations.
- Promote a free lead magnet: A free product can help you build an email list you can sell to in the future.
- Start an affiliate program: Find influencers who are established and trusted in your industry and offer them a commission.
- Offer a money-back guarantee: A money back guarantee shows potential buyers you’re putting the risk on you, not them.
Digital products FAQ
How do you sell digital products on Shopify?
Create a Shopify store, install a digital downloads app, create product listings, set pricing, configure fulfillment settings, and market your products.
What are some examples of digital products?
Online courses, ebooks, audiobooks, software programs, WordPress themes, printables, and membership sites.
How do you create a digital product?
Identify a market need, validate your idea, plan your product, develop the content, package it professionally, test it, create marketing materials, and launch.
What digital products sell best?
Online courses, software and digital tools, design assets and templates, ebooks, membership subscriptions, and AI-generated content and tools.
What are the legal considerations for selling digital products?
You need to consider terms of service, privacy policy, copyright protection, licensing terms, refund policy, and tax compliance (especially EU VAT).
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