Profitable Digital Products to Make and Sell on Shopify

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Why Digital Products are a Game-Changer for Shopify Merchants
3. The Most Profitable Digital Products to Make and Sell in 2026
4. How to Successfully Create Your First Digital Product
5. Overcoming Common Challenges in Selling Digital Goods
6. Strategic Pricing and Marketing for Long-Term Success
7. Real-World Scenarios: Digital Products in Action
8. Managing Your Digital Ecosystem with Tevello
9. Getting Started: Your 14-Day Free Trial
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Conclusion

Introduction

Imagine a retail business where the inventory never runs out, shipping costs are nonexistent, and the profit margins regularly hover between 90% and 95%. For many traditional merchants, this sounds like a dream, but in the creator economy, this is simply the reality of selling digital goods. While physical e-commerce requires complex supply chains and warehouse management, digital products allow you to package your expertise or creativity once and sell it to a global audience indefinitely. The digital product market is not just a passing trend; it is a massive industry projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the decade.

The purpose of this blog post is to explore the most lucrative digital products to make and sell while providing a strategic roadmap for integrating them into your existing Shopify storefront. We will cover various product categories—from educational assets and design templates to exclusive community memberships—and explain how to navigate the technical hurdles of digital distribution. Whether you are a seasoned merchant looking to diversify your revenue or a new creator starting from scratch, this guide will provide actionable insights into building a sustainable digital business.

At Tevello, our mission is to turn any Shopify store into a digital learning powerhouse. We believe that merchants should have full ownership of their customer data and brand experience, which is why we champion a native approach to digital commerce. This post serves as your foundational resource for understanding the landscape of digital products and how to leverage tools that keep your customers on your own URL, ensuring a seamless and professional experience.

Why Digital Products are a Game-Changer for Shopify Merchants

The transition from selling physical items to digital goods offers a unique set of advantages that can transform the financial health of an e-commerce business. One of the most significant benefits is the impact on Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). When you offer digital products alongside physical stock, you create more touchpoints for your customers, encouraging repeat purchases without the friction of shipping delays or stockouts.

Furthermore, digital products provide a level of scalability that physical goods simply cannot match. If you sell a thousand units of a physical product, you must manufacture, store, and ship a thousand items. If you sell a thousand copies of an ebook or an online course, the effort remains virtually the same as selling one. This allows for securing a fixed cost structure for digital products, where your overhead remains predictable even as your revenue scales.

By choosing to sell digital products on Shopify, you are also prioritizing brand consistency. Many creators make the mistake of sending their hard-earned traffic to third-party marketplaces or external learning platforms. This fragments the user experience and often results in the merchant losing control over their customer relationship. By keeping everything native to Shopify, you ensure that the checkout process is familiar and that your brand remains front and center throughout the entire journey.

The Most Profitable Digital Products to Make and Sell in 2026

When choosing digital products to make and sell, it is essential to align the product type with your existing skills and the needs of your target audience. Below are the top categories currently driving significant revenue for online merchants.

1. Online Courses and Mini-Lessons

Educational content is arguably the most powerful digital product available. People are increasingly looking for specialized knowledge that they can consume at their own pace. You can create comprehensive "masterclasses" or shorter, focused "mini-courses" that solve a specific problem.

For a merchant selling fitness equipment, creating a "15-Minute Kettlebell Mastery" video course is a high-margin upsell that requires no shipping boxes and adds immense value to the physical product. By using Tevello, you can access all the key features for courses and communities to deliver these videos directly within your Shopify ecosystem. This approach has proven highly successful for various niches; for instance, you can see how one brand sold $112K+ by bundling courses alongside their physical craft supplies.

2. Ebooks and In-Depth Guides

Ebooks remain a staple in the digital product world because they are relatively easy to produce and highly accessible for customers. Whether it is a collection of recipes, a technical manual, or a business strategy guide, ebooks allow you to establish authority in your niche.

The key to a successful ebook is focusing on a "niche problem." Instead of a general book on marketing, consider a guide titled "How to Secure Your First 100 Email Subscribers for Handmade Jewelry Brands." Specificity increases the perceived value and makes the marketing process much more straightforward.

3. Digital Planners and Productivity Templates

The rise of apps like GoodNotes, Notability, and Notion has created a massive demand for digital planners. These products help users organize their lives, track their budgets, or manage their fitness goals without the bulk of a physical paper planner.

Designers can create aesthetically pleasing layouts that users can download and import into their favorite apps. Because these items are often used daily, they build a strong habit around your brand, making it easier to sell higher-ticket items later on.

4. Professional Presets and Photo Filters

If you have a background in photography or social media content creation, Lightroom presets and video filters are excellent digital products to make and sell. Many aspiring influencers and small business owners want to achieve a professional, cohesive look for their brand but lack the technical skills to edit photos from scratch.

By selling a "One-Click Aesthetic Pack," you provide a shortcut to professional results. This category is particularly effective for marketing on visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, where "before and after" shots can clearly demonstrate the product’s value.

5. Membership Sites and Exclusive Communities

The "recurring revenue" model is the holy grail of e-commerce. Instead of a one-time sale, a membership site provides ongoing access to exclusive content, a community forum, or monthly digital downloads for a subscription fee. This stability allows you to plan your business growth with much more confidence.

A great example of this in practice is migrating over 14,000 members and reducing support tickets by moving a community away from fragmented third-party platforms and into a unified Shopify environment. When the community is part of the store, the member experience is seamless, and management becomes significantly easier for the merchant.

How to Successfully Create Your First Digital Product

Moving from an idea to a finished product requires a structured approach. You want to ensure that you are building something that the market actually wants, rather than just what you think they need.

Identifying Your Niche and Market Demand

Before you open a design tool or record a video, you must validate your idea. Start by looking at the "pain points" in your industry. What questions do customers repeatedly ask? What are they complaining about in the reviews of your competitors' products?

If you notice that many people are struggling to set up a specific type of software, a video tutorial or a "Quick Start" template could be the perfect digital product. Use tools like Google Trends or even search queries on marketplaces like Etsy to see what terms are trending. The goal is to find a balance between high demand and manageable competition.

Quality Production and Design

The "intangibility" of digital products means that the perceived value is heavily tied to professional presentation. Even if the content of your ebook is world-class, it will be hard to sell if the layout looks cluttered or the cover art is low-resolution.

• For Ebooks: Use tools like Canva or Adobe InDesign for professional formatting. Ensure there is a clear table of contents and a consistent color palette.
• For Courses: High-quality audio is actually more important than high-quality video. Invest in a decent microphone and ensure your recording space is quiet.
• For Templates: Provide clear, step-by-step instructions on how to use the product. If a customer cannot figure out how to import your Notion template, they will likely ask for a refund.

If unifying your stack is a priority, start by a simple, all-in-one price for unlimited courses. Having a dedicated tool to house these assets makes the production process feel more tangible and structured.

Overcoming Common Challenges in Selling Digital Goods

While the benefits are numerous, selling digital products does come with specific challenges that merchants must navigate.

Dealing with Piracy and Unauthorized Sharing

One of the biggest fears for digital creators is that their work will be stolen or shared for free. While it is impossible to prevent 100% of piracy, you can implement several safeguards:

• Encrypted Links: Use delivery systems that generate expiring download links.
• Watermarking: For PDFs and videos, include watermarks that identify the original creator.
• Account-Based Access: Instead of providing a raw file for download, host your content inside a secure member area. This is one of the primary benefits of keeping customers at home on the brand website; because they must log in to access the content, the barrier to unauthorized sharing is much higher.

Building Trust for "Intangible" Items

Because a customer cannot touch or feel a digital product before buying, you must work harder to build trust. Detailed product descriptions are essential, but social proof is even better.

• Video Walkthroughs: Show exactly what is inside the product. If it's a course, show the dashboard. If it's a planner, flip through the pages.
• Customer Reviews: Encourage your first few buyers to leave detailed feedback in exchange for a small discount on future purchases.
• Free Previews: Offer a "Chapter One" download or a free "Intro Lesson" to give potential buyers a taste of your quality.

Strategic Pricing and Marketing for Long-Term Success

Pricing digital products is a delicate art. Because the "cost of goods sold" is effectively zero, you have a lot of flexibility, but you must avoid "devaluing" your expertise.

Finding the Sweet Spot: Low-Ticket vs. High-Ticket

A common strategy is to offer a range of products. "Low-ticket" items (under $30) like checklists or templates are excellent "lead magnets" that introduce new customers to your brand with minimal risk. Once they have seen the value of your $15 template, they are much more likely to invest in your $200 comprehensive course.

To keep your operations lean, it is vital to have predictable pricing without hidden transaction fees. Many platforms take a percentage of every sale, which can eat into your margins as you scale. By using a flat-rate model, you keep 100% of your earnings, allowing you to reinvest that capital into your marketing efforts.

Leveraging Social Media and Email Marketing

Marketing digital products works best when you focus on "education-based selling." Instead of shouting "Buy my course!", share a tip from the course on TikTok or Instagram. When you provide value for free, you build the authority necessary to make the sale.

Email marketing is equally critical. Use an email sequence to nurture new leads, explaining the benefits of your digital product and sharing success stories from other customers. For those looking to scale, strategies for selling over 4,000 digital courses natively often revolve around a strong email list and a seamless integration between the "shop" and the "learning" experience.

Real-World Scenarios: Digital Products in Action

To understand how this looks for a typical merchant, let's look at a few practical examples.

Scenario A: The Specialty Coffee Roaster A merchant selling high-end coffee beans on Shopify notices that many customers ask about how to properly use a French Press or a Chemex. The merchant records a series of high-quality "Master the Brew" videos and bundles them into a digital course.

• The Result: Every time a customer buys a physical bag of beans, they are offered the course at checkout for an additional $19. This creates a high-margin upsell with zero additional shipping effort.

Scenario B: The Garden Supply Expert A gardening brand has thousands of followers but struggles with seasonal dips in sales during the winter. They decide to launch a "Winter Planning" membership community.

• The Result: Members pay a monthly fee for access to exclusive webinars and planting guides. This provides the merchant with stable, recurring revenue during the off-season and keeps the brand top-of-mind for when spring arrives. By solving login issues by moving to a native platform, the merchant ensures that their community members have a frustration-free experience every month.

Managing Your Digital Ecosystem with Tevello

At Tevello, we recognize that the technical side of selling digital products can feel overwhelming. That is why we built an all-in-one ecosystem designed specifically for Shopify. We reject the complicated tier structures and hidden costs that plague the industry.

Our model is simple: The Unlimited Plan costs $29.99 per month.

This plan is designed to grow with you. Whether you have 10 students or 10,000, your price stays the same. We offer:

• Unlimited courses and students: Never worry about hitting a cap on your growth.
• Unlimited video hosting and bandwidth: We handle the technical heavy lifting of video delivery.
• 0% Transaction Fees: You keep every penny you earn (minus your standard Shopify payment processor fees).
• Community Features: Build a thriving space with member directories, social feeds, and profiles.

By keeping everything native to Shopify, you maintain control over your brand. Your customers don't have to create new logins on strange third-party sites; they use the same account they used to buy your physical products. This "unified login" significantly reduces customer support friction and builds a much more professional brand image.

Getting Started: Your 14-Day Free Trial

The best way to see the impact of digital products is to start building. We offer a 14-day free trial that allows you to install the app and build your entire curriculum before you ever pay a cent. This gives you the space to experiment with different digital products to make and sell without any financial pressure.

Whether you are looking to add a few templates to your shop or launch a full-scale online academy, the tools are ready for you. You can start your 14-day free trial and build your first course now to see how simple it is to expand your Shopify store beyond physical goods.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sell digital and physical products together in the same Shopify order?

Yes, this is one of the primary advantages of using a native Shopify integration. A customer can add a physical bag of coffee and a digital brewing guide to their cart and check out in a single transaction. This increases your average order value and provides a more convenient shopping experience for the customer.

How do I protect my digital videos from being downloaded and shared?

Tevello provides secure video hosting that prevents simple "right-click and save" downloads. By requiring a customer to log in to their account on your store to view the content, you ensure that only paying members can access your material. This is a much more secure method than simply emailing a link to a file.

Do I need a separate website to host my online course?

No. At Tevello, we believe in "keeping customers at home." Your course, community, and digital products live directly on your Shopify URL. This means you don’t have to manage multiple domains, different sets of branding, or separate customer databases. Everything is managed from your Shopify admin.

Is there a limit to how many files I can upload?

On the Tevello Unlimited Plan, you have access to unlimited courses and video hosting. We want you to focus on creating the best possible content for your audience without worrying about "storage limits" or "bandwidth overages" that often come with other hosting platforms.

Conclusion

The shift toward digital commerce offers an unprecedented opportunity for Shopify merchants to build more resilient, profitable, and scalable businesses. By exploring the various digital products to make and sell—from simple ebooks to complex, recurring memberships—you can move away from the constant struggle of inventory management and shipping logistics.

Selling digital goods isn't just about making a quick sale; it's about building a deeper relationship with your audience by providing them with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed. When you integrate these products natively into your Shopify store, you protect your brand, own your data, and create a seamless experience that keeps customers coming back for more. With our flat-rate $29.99 per month plan and 0% transaction fees, Tevello provides the robust infrastructure you need to turn your store into a digital powerhouse.

To build your community without leaving Shopify, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from. We invite you to install Tevello from the Shopify App Store today and begin your 14-day free trial to see how easy it is to launch your next digital venture.