You’ve done your research and set up a store that sells physical products. But as sales start rolling in, the constant fulfilment of orders and shipping processes quickly become overwhelming. Then you hear about digital dropshipping products and realize you could sell these instead to eliminate your shipping headaches. This article explores these digital dropshipping products, discusses the benefits of selling them, and how to find dropshipping products?
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What is Digital Dropshipping and is it Worth it?
Digital dropshipping is a unique spin on traditional dropshipping, focusing on selling digital products instead of physical ones. By partnering with third-party suppliers, you can sell digital products you don't own or create and have them fulfil orders on your behalf.
This innovative approach has gained popularity in recent years as more entrepreneurs discover the potential of digital products and the ease of using platforms like:
Shopify
WooCommerce
Wix
What is a Digital Product?
A digital product is any item stored, sold, and used in an electronic format. Customers can receive digital products by downloading them from a website or streaming them online. When you buy something, you deliver it straight to your computer or phone instead of waiting for a package. They’re all about being electronic. Think about:
eBooks
online courses
Software
Favorite tunes
Cool digital art
You get them instantly – no waiting around for deliveries. You can access them anytime, anywhere. Making and sending these out costs less than physical stuff, which is fantastic for creators and users. Whenever you’re diving into a new eBook or jamming to some digital tracks, remember that’s the digital product world for you – all about instant, easy, and on-the-go.
Why Sell Digital Products Online?
Selling digital products online is a smart move for many reasons.
Low Costs to Get Started
Starting costs are super low. You don’t need a physical store or lots of inventory. Create your product once, and sell it repeatedly without spending extra.
No Shipping Hassles
Say goodbye to shipping. Since everything’s online, you don’t have to worry about postage or delivery times. Your customers get their products instantly, which they love.
Make Money While You Sleep
Earn money 24/7. Your online store works non-stop, so you can make sales even when you’re chilling or asleep. It’s like having a magic money-making machine.
Reach Customers Worldwide
Your market is the whole world. The internet has no borders. Someone from the other side can buy your digital art, courses, or software anytime.
Easy to Update
Another cool thing? Updating is a breeze. If you need to fix something or add new features, you can update the digital product and send it out again. Your customers always get the best version.
Unlimited Inventory
You always have stock. Digital products don’t run out. Whether it’s one sale or a thousand, you’re always ready to deliver without extra effort or cost. The essential characteristics of the most lucrative digital products. Several key features distinguish the most lucrative digital products. They offer an effective solution to a specific problem or market need.
This can include specialized software that simplifies complex tasks, online courses that provide expertise in a particular area, or ebook files that offer practical advice. These products are often evolutionary and can be updated regularly to remain relevant and competitive. This adaptability ensures that digital products remain attractive to consumers over time. The most lucrative digital products often offer significant added value, whether in quality or relevance. By identifying these essential characteristics, dropshippers can maximize their profit potential.
Is Dropshipping Digital Products Worth It?
The dropshipping business will grow, with predictions that it will be worth $301.11 billion in 2024 and $372.47 billion in 2025. In 2024, around $135 billion will be spent on digital products. Online sales for digital items, like eBooks or online courses, have jumped by nearly 70% in the past two years.
In the US, about 3% of people's spending in 2023 was on these digital items. The money from selling eBooks is expected to reach $14.6 billion in 2024, a 3.2% increase from the previous year. The US will likely earn the most from these sales, bringing in more than $5 billion in 2024. This whole market is predicted to grow yearly by 1.62%, which might be worth over $15 billion by 2027.
Pros and Cons of Digital Dropshipping
Digital dropshipping offers various advantages that appeal to business owners. However, it also has some drawbacks compared to traditional dropshipping models. Let’s examine its pros and cons when developing your digital dropshipping business.
Pros
Digital dropshipping removes traditional models' multiple risks and fulfilment overheads through its entirely digital inventory and delivery process. Here are some key advantages of digital dropshipping over traditional dropshipping:
No Inventory and Fulfillment Costs: Digital products don't require capital to purchase, store, and protect inventory upfront. This significantly reduces the financial risk and barriers to entry. Traditional dropshipping involves high costs for packaging, labelling, shipping, and fulfilment centres. Digital dropshipping passes this cost to suppliers.
Instant delivery: Fulfillment is immediate as digital goods are electronically delivered. There needs to be more time spent packaging, shipping, and waiting for the delivery of physical goods.
Return/Replacement Risks: Digital goods do not face challenges like incorrect shipping addresses, damaged goods in transit, and returns/replacement handling.
Easier Product Sourcing and Streamlined Operations: Finding suppliers of in-demand digital content is simpler than physical inventory worldwide. Agreement terms are clear-cut. Digital delivery is automated, requiring no extra manpower at the drop shipper's end for logistics, customer service, etc.
Green and Fast: Unlike physical shipping, digital distribution has no environmental impact and is nearly instantaneous.
Global Scalability and Well-Suited for Global Customers: Digital goods can be delivered worldwide easily at low costs, allowing Dropshippers to expand into global markets easily. Time zone differences are non-impactful, as digital goods access is 24/7 globally via the internet.
Cons
The intangible nature of digital goods opens up new risks around competition, piracy, and customer retention for the drop shipper's business. Here are some potential disadvantages of digital drop shipping compared to traditional dropshipping:
Limited Product Selection: The selection of suitable digital products may be narrower than that of physical goods. This can constrain the types of stores and niche markets that can be tapped.
Increased Competition and Difficulty To Stand Out: Digital domains tend to get saturated quicker as barriers to entry are lower. This means more competition for eyeballs and market share. With many similar dropshippers offering the same digital products, carving a unique niche and branding requires more effort.
Price Sensitivity: Customers may be more cost-conscious about digital goods that don't involve shipping costs, so margins could be smaller.
Piracy and Subscription Risks: Digital content can be easily shared without purchase. Strong anti-piracy measures are needed to prevent revenue losses. Recurring subscription/membership models require an excellent customer retention strategy.
Reliance on Third Parties: Dropshippers depend entirely on suppliers/creators for fulfilment. Issues could impact the customer experience and business.
Intangible Products: Lack of physical goods means fewer upsells and abandoned cart recovery potential during checkout.
Payment Issues: Digital goods demand secure payment solutions and buyer protection to build trust for intangible products.
1. eBooks: The Digital Product With Tons of Potential
E-books are highly sought-after digital products by creators and consumers alike. Their production requires only written text and a few relevant images, making them relatively easy to create. They’re easily distributed on major marketplaces or self-made online stores. To buy the rights to exciting eBooks at a low price, we can utilize a resource like PLR.me.
What’s Also Interesting
We can even translate the eBooks we sell and cater to major worldwide markets. By targeting major and developed markets, we can mark our prices based on the local standard, increasing our sales and overall profits.
The worldwide revenue of the eBook market increased significantly in 2021 by around $1.3 billion to over $16.1 billion. The Statista Digital Market Outlook estimates that the revenue will continue to grow and, in 2026, reach around $18.7 billion. It is a profitable digital dropshipping product.
2. Audiobooks: A Fast-Growing Digital Dropshipping Product
As dropshippers, we can sell a wide variety of audiobooks. We can reach a wider global audience by offering various translations. To explain, audiobooks are voice recordings of book readings that we can listen to instead of reading the book.
Audiobooks offer convenience to people needing more time to read a book. Audiobooks make catching up on their reading lists easy with people's lives getting busier. They don’t require additional tech; people can simply use their phones. With the increasing popularity of audiobooks, there is a large market for dropshippers to tap into. Audiobook revenue is expected to grow 26.4% annually from 2022 to 2030 and reach $35.05 billion in 2030. This makes audiobooks the fastest-growing book format in the world.
3. Digital Templates & Tools: Cater to Professionals and Freelancers
Intangible tools that help professionals to overcome challenges are a good example of digital tools. With that said, there are a lot of different digital tools and templates we can venture into. The need to digitize everything is growing yearly, so we can find a strong need in this market through solid research. These digital solutions cater to the common needs and pain points of specific audiences and are sold online. And since it’s easy to distribute and not very expensive to create, we can start catering to different audiences and expand our market.
We can follow interest trends to find the best time to dropship digital templates and tools. Following interest trends helps us understand when our customer base is at its peak interest. We can deduce the product's profitability based on the demand and interest it generates. That way, we can find high-demand products and maximize our profits.
These digital products include:
Digital marketing strategy templates for entrepreneurs
Resume templates for job-seekers
Mobile apps for businesses
Graphic design templates for brochures, flyers, posters, etc
Adobe Photoshop filters and plugins for media editors, Icons, fonts, or UX Kits for web designers
Beginner’s Tip: Target freelancers with digital products like templates and tools to appeal to their need for productivity and workflow efficiency.
4. Artwork: Digital Art is Here to Stay
Custom prints, print-on-demand t-shirts, and digital artwork are feasible options to tap into the digital products market. Designers and artists can produce a wide range of distinctive and valuable products. Selling digital art files provides access to a vast customer base. Interest in digital artwork is dynamic but mostly above the 50% interest mark. With that said, dropshipping digital products proves to have solid profit potential. With the current need to digitize everything, there’s always a need for something.
We expect the demand for digital artwork in all forms to grow. Since the product range in this niche is vast, we can test out different digital artwork formats to see which we have the most success with. To elaborate, digital artwork examples include:
Logos Brand kits
Designs & Photos
PowerPoint themes
Original artwork
Clip art Stock icons
Card designs
Animations
5. Photography: Sell High-Quality Stock Photos
Premium and high-quality photos are among the most coveted digital products today. Notably, bloggers and website owners are the primary consumers. Dropshippers can sell stock photos, backgrounds, website images, etc. To ensure success in this competitive market, we need a well-designed website. This is crucial for us to showcase the photography.
Competitive pricing and exceptional images can help digital dropshippers do well selling their photographs on their website. The total revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 6.99%. As a result, this projects a market volume of $26.11 billion by 2027. A revenue prediction like this means we can join in and earn some of that money.
6. Software Programs: Cash in on the Software Boom
We can turn code into cash. The software industry is a vast and ever-expanding market with numerous opportunities. The revenue in the global software market is projected to reach $650.70 billion in 2023. People use computers and mobile devices daily. The interest and demand for software programs keep growing. People spend more and more time on their phones, and we can use that opportunity to fill that time with our software programs.
Dropshippers have the potential to sell apps that streamline business and everyday tasks. For example, we can sell Shopify themes and WordPress plugins, and we can even sell project management and scheduling tools. We can take another route and sell games and entertainment apps to our target market. Software programs are highly desired and necessary, making them great for digital dropshipping. Software programs can result in a highly lucrative digital dropshipping business.
7. Guides: Everyone Needs a Good Guide
Unlike all digital dropshipping products, guides don’t require shipping or handling. To explain, a digital guide can provide step-by-step instructions for pretty much anything. We can sell a plant-based diet guide, keto guide, cooking guide, etc. Guides can include tips and strategies for optimizing a certain aspect of a business, such as marketing and sales guides, software guides, and more.
We can also sell meditation guides, guides for certain games, digital tour guides, and even fitness or educational guides. This product enables us to venture into many different variations. We can test out which types of digital guides sell well. There is always a demand for quality guides. Digital guides can be a profitable digital product to dropship.
8. Music, Beats & Audios: A Unique Digital Dropshipping Niche
The demand for music, beats, and audio is continually growing, driven by many content creators.
Musicians
Singers
Producers
Aspiring artists
Want to create unique and engaging audio content. Music and beats have significantly diversified, introducing new genres and creating new markets. Taking advantage of that can bring us significant dropshipping profits.
Dropshipping digital audio products cater to this diverse and expanding market, offering a variety of genres and styles to meet different needs. Moreover, the digital format allows easy customization and updates, providing customers with tailored solutions and fresh content. This versatility not only increases the attractiveness of the products but also fosters customer loyalty and repeat business. Creating audio content does not require a significant investment, making it sustainable. Dropshipping music, beats, and audio is a highly profitable and sustainable venture.
9. Consulting Sessions: Capitalize on Your Expertise
Consulting sessions are an excellent digital dropshipping product due to their high perceived value and low operational costs. Unlike traditional physical products, consulting sessions are services delivered digitally, often via video calls or online platforms. This eliminates any significant costs associated with the service. This significantly reduces the overhead costs and logistical complexities associated with physical products.
Consulting sessions can be scheduled and delivered globally, expanding the potential market reach without geographical, shipping, or local policy limitations. The scalability of consulting sessions is notable, as consultants can offer:
Group sessions
Webinars
Recorded consultations
This allows them to reach a larger audience without a proportional increase in effort. Moreover, consulting sessions cater to a broad range of industries and niches. This diversity means a constant demand for specialized knowledge and expertise, enabling dropshippers to target various market segments effectively. The personalized nature of consulting services enhances customer satisfaction, as clients receive tailored advice and solutions specific to their needs. This high level of customization fosters strong client relationships and encourages repeat business and referrals.
10. Printable Digital Products: Simple, Versatile, and Profitable
Printable digital products are an excellent choice due to their simplicity, low cost, and immediate delivery. These products, which include planners, art prints, educational worksheets, and custom invitations, are created once and can be sold multiple times without needing physical inventory. Customers can receive their purchases instantly via download links, enhancing their shopping experience with immediate gratification and eliminating shipping delays.
Another advantage of printable digital products is their versatility and wide appeal. These products cater to various market segments, including:
Home decorators
Teachers
Event planners
Hobbyists
Ensuring a broad customer base. Customizing and personalising printable items further increases their attractiveness, as consumers can tailor them to their specific preferences and needs. This high level of customization helps build a loyal customer base and encourages repeat purchases. Creating and updating these products is relatively easy, allowing sellers to continuously refresh their offerings and keep up with trends, ensuring sustained demand and business growth.
How to Start Dropshipping Digital Products in 2025?
The first step to starting a successful digital dropshipping business is to determine the niche you want to get into. Always do ample research on product demand to help me narrow down my options. If you want to dropship ebooks, you might specifically type in “cookbooks” on Google Trends and check it out. Get insights about product:
Costs
Sales
Profit margins
Customer engagement
Competition
Use product research tools like Minea to get all this information. You can either find existing dropshipping products to sell or create your own. Let’s take a closer look at both methods.
Create Digital Dropshipping Products
On the other hand, if you want to create your digital dropshipping product, you can use apps to automate this process. For example, if you want to sell designs, art, images, etc., you can consider using tools like:
Adobe Photoshop
Canva
However, if you want to create online courses, apps like Teachable or Udemy can help. For example, Teachable helps you create and sell online courses. It offers tools for course creation, website building, and student management.
Choose the Right Digital Dropshipping Suppliers
Finding a good supplier is crucial for your online store’s success. It’s essential to pick a trustworthy supplier that sells high-quality digital products at fair prices and delivers quickly to your customers.
Turn to the directory at Dropshipping.com, which lists over 2000 dependable suppliers for digital products. This free directory allows me to specifically look for suppliers that match my needs, such as niche, location, and more. It provides detailed information on each supplier, including prices, processing times, minimum orders, and product types.
Create Your Digital Products Store
You’ll need an online store to sell your digital products. Website builders are a convenient way to create a visually appealing store with minimal effort. In my experience, Shopify is the best choice due to its user-friendly nature and vast selection of themes. It allows you to customize your store and seamlessly add products.
Shopify integrates well with numerous dropshipping apps and tools, simplifying product management. A beginner’s guide to setting up your first Shopify store is highly recommended.
Did you know starting your own Shopify store is super easy?
And it starts at just $1!
Dropshipping.com can quickly help you launch your Shopify store with the help of AI. This means you get a store stocked with top picks for your chosen niche, ready for you to start earning from dropshipping right away. They offer easy-to-navigate themes that encourage shoppers to make purchases, and you can customize these themes to match your taste and what you’re selling. The product pages are designed to boost your sales.
Here’s the simple way to do it:
Choose your selling niche by selecting from their list.
Let their AI populate your store with great products and everything else you need.
Start selling! With your store set up, products chosen, and supplier ready, you’re all set to begin.
Market Your Digital Dropshipping Store
Lastly, marketing is essential to draw customers and make sales. Initiating with SEO, social media advertising, email marketing, and paid promotions can significantly enhance your store’s visibility online. Platforms like:
Facebook
Instagram
TikTok
These platforms offer comprehensive tools for ad targeting and setting marketing objectives.
Employing strategies like:
Cross-selling
Up-selling
Promotional codes
Can effectively increase your sales volume. Incorporating video marketing into your strategy can further highlight your products’ features and benefits. While marketing can substantially boost your sales, remember to also focus on the logistics of selling digital products to ensure smooth operations.
Where Can You Dropship Digital Products?
1. Gumroad
Gumroad is a versatile platform that’s especially friendly for beginners. It supports digital products such as ebooks, online courses, music, and software. The platform is designed to take care of everything from payments to the delivery of digital goods, making it a convenient choice for creators who prefer a straightforward selling process.
Gumroad charges a percentage of each sale plus a small transaction fee, which means you only pay a 10% flat fee when you make a sale. This setup is ideal for creators looking for a low-barrier entry to the digital marketplace.
2. Sellfy
Sellfy provides a simple yet effective storefront for selling ebooks, videos, music, and even physical goods. It stands out for its focus on digital content creators and its ability to handle subscriptions, making it a versatile option for those looking to offer a variety of product types.
Sellfy operates on a subscription model, offering different tiers that cater to the needs of businesses at varying stages of growth.
There are three plans available on Sellfy:
Starter plan – $29/month
Business plan – $79/month
Premium plan – $159/month
Each tier offers an increasing array of features, from basic storefront capabilities to advanced analytics and marketing tools.
3. Etsy
While Etsy is widely recognized for its focus on handmade and vintage items, it also serves as a thriving marketplace for digital products like printables, graphic designs, and digital planners. Sellers can list digital products alongside physical items, tapping into Etsy’s vast and engaged audience. Etsy charges a listing fee for each item, a transaction fee on sales, and a payment processing fee. The platform has three plans, one of which is FREE.
Pricing starts at $10. Plus, all Etsy pricing plans require dropshippers to pay fees starting from 20 cents. The platform is well-suited for digital creators looking to leverage an established marketplace with a wide reach.
4. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is the leading platform for ebooks and paperbacks, offering unparalleled access to millions of readers worldwide. KDP allows authors to self-publish their books with no upfront costs, paying a portion of sales to Amazon.
The percentage depends on various factors, including the author's choice of pricing and distribution options. The listing fees vary between $2.99 and $9.99. KDP is an excellent choice for writers seeking to reach a vast audience while maintaining control over their publishing rights and pricing.
5. Amazon
Amazon is one of the globe’s most significant and widely used online shopping venues. Jeff Bezos initiated this venture in 1994, initially setting it up as a digital bookstore. It rapidly broadened its inventory to encompass an extensive array of products, ranging from electronics and apparel to books, music, and beyond. For those interested in digital dropshipping, Amazon is a treasure trove. The platform offers an extensive collection of digital products, such as:
Ebooks
Online courses
Software
Music
Video content
Regarding dropshipping books, an intriguing fact about Amazon’s book sales:
The company sells upwards of 300 million print books annually. It’s also estimated to hold a minimum of 40% market share in print book sales across the United States. The pricing of their books spans from as low as $3 to as high as $800, catering to a wide budget range.On the services front, Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program simplifies the logistics process for sellers. By shipping their inventory to Amazon’s fulfilment centres, sellers can have Amazon manage the storage, packaging, and delivery of their items.
Amazon boasts integration capabilities with numerous other leading platforms, such as:
Shopify
Microsoft
Adobe
Red Hat
HubSpot
WooCommerce
Enhancing its utility and accessibility for a broad spectrum of users.
6. Udemy
Udemy is a leading online learning marketplace where instructors can create and sell courses on various subjects. The platform is known for its vast user base, which provides a significant opportunity for course creators to reach students globally.
The pricing options start from free and are up to $360/year. Udemy handles pricing and promotions, offering instructors a share of the revenue generated from their courses. It’s an excellent starting point for educators looking to enter the e-learning space with minimal upfront investment.
7. Teachable
Teachable allows creators to offer online courses and coaching services under their brand. The platform offers a range of customization and marketing tools, enabling instructors to build a personalized teaching experience.
Teachable uses a subscription model, with plans varying in features and support levels to accommodate different sizes and types of educational endeavors. The platform has four pricing plans, starting from $0/month and going up to $ 199/month. This platform is ideal for educators and creators seeking more control over online courses and student interactions.
8. Thinkific
Thinkific provides a comprehensive suite of tools for creating, marketing, and selling online courses. It focuses on student engagement and content delivery, offering course creators a high degree of customization and control.
Like Teachable, Thinkific operates on a subscription basis, with four plans starting at $0/ month and going up to $149/month. Thinkific is suited for those looking to build a professional and engaging online learning environment.
9. Creative Market
Creative Market is a platform for selling:
Graphic design templates
Fonts
Themes
Photos
And more
It caters to designers and creatives seeking high-quality assets for their projects. Sellers on Creative Market are charged a commission on sales, making it a flexible option for creatives at all career levels. The platform offers five pricing options, from $9.95/month to $99.95/month. It is known for its high-quality standard and engaged community of buyers.
10. Patreon
Patreon supports a subscription model that allows artists, writers, and creators to offer exclusive content to their audience. Creators can set up membership tiers with various benefits to offer exclusive content to their patrons.
Patreon takes a cut of the subscription revenue, making it an attractive option for creators looking to build a steady income stream from their dedicated followers. This model fosters a direct relationship between creators and their supporters, encouraging a community-centric approach to content creation.
11. Creative Fabrica
Creative Fabrica is an all-in-one digital marketplace offering nearly 9 million products from over 62,000 designers. It provides various:
Fonts
Graphics
Craft designs
Over 1,400 courses covering various creative disciplines
One of their notable features includes the Spark AI tools for generating creative content and the Studio for easy design editing.
The pricing options are flexible, with subscriptions like Crafts for $12 for 3 months, Fonts for $19 per month, Graphics for $19 per month, and All Access for $29 per month, all including commercial licenses for unlimited use.
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