The content creation and e-commerce industries offer fragmented profits to their owners, because they rely on easy and accessible methods for everyone.  In a previous article on our blog, we wrote about how to start your e-commerce business without capital and the profit opportunities you can achieve, starting from affiliate marketing strategies to e-commerce and drop shipping, to how to make and sell a digital product.

Salla, the future of e-commerce, is an easy platform to start your business

What are digital products?

Before you ask yourself how to make a product and how to market a product, perhaps it is worth defining digital products. These are intangible products that offer various useful solutions to users, whether they are entrepreneurs or learners.

But the biggest advantage! You do not need to reproduce them every time.  In other words, the production cost does not increase with high demand.
You make them once, so their production cost is low.

Among the types of digital products: educational courses, various subscription services and music services, mobile applications, computer programs, videos and media of all kinds, and gift cards for your store.

Advantages of selling digital products

Before knowing how to make a digital product, there are a number of advantages that make the decision to sell digital products a preference for promoting products online:

* Low investment, (potential) and high returns

Online marketplaces and e-commerce tools are relatively inexpensive compared to renting a physical location or creating physical inventory. This means the potential for higher profit margins.

*More profitable than physical goods

Digital products are sold at higher profit margins than physical products. This margin improves over time because you do not need to spend any money to produce more products.

* No inventory, shipping, or rent hassle

In addition to the fact that you do not have to cover the cost of producing, storing, or shipping physical items, you can also avoid logistics. We will mention shortly Salla's shipping services that you can benefit from to stay away from this trouble.

*Financial flow even if you are busy

If you already have a day job that keeps you busy, the digital products you sell through online media can keep the money flowing even if you spend most of your week at your full-time job.

Inspiring ideas to help you figure out how to make a digital product:

Online educational products.

Gone are the days of having to sit in a classroom to learn something new. With e-learning platforms like Coursera and SkillShare just a few clicks away, learning something new is now easier than ever, wherever and whenever you want.

So, if you have a unique skill or passion you want to share with the world, this is the perfect opportunity to turn your knowledge into an online business. Try hosting monthly webinars, downloadable tutorials, or an online course.

According to Statista, the number of monthly podcast listeners is expected to reach 164 million by 2024, and the number of readers in the digital publishing sector is expected to reach 1,632.6 million in 2025. Thanks to mobile apps like Spotify, Audible, Amazon Kindle, and Scribd, hosting your own podcast or self-publishing your book is open to almost anyone.

Music and art.

Do you have an artistic side? Perhaps you are already monetizing your talents in tangible ways, like performing live shows or selling custom t-shirts, but there are plenty of ways to turn your artistic abilities into digital products too.

If you are a professional musician or simply like to record music in your free time, try selling snippets of your songs to use as ringtones, or if you are a filmmaker, you can sell movies or videos online. Many graphic designers create and sell digital art, whether it is mobile or desktop wallpapers, printable cards, or wall posters. Many artists sell digital downloads of their artwork on platforms like Etsy or Society6.

Digital tools and templates.

Many professionals often do not have the time and resources to handle all the necessary tasks for their business. Perhaps they lack the experience or tools to execute a specific task, and that is where you can step in and save the day.

There are a lot of digital tools and templates that can help customers perform daily tasks and make their lives easier, such as:

• Digital media planners.

• Mobile applications for businesses.

• Graphic design templates for printed materials and websites.

• Fonts, logos, icons, and UX kits.

Memberships.

Instead of selling digital products individually, you can also bundle several products and services together and offer them to customers. This can include online courses, fitness classes, business tools, or online coaching.

Digital gift cards.

The digital gift card enables your customers to gift their purchases (the digital product, digital card, or donation product) from your store to their loved ones by creating distinctive digital gift cards.

How do you find the right platform for you to sell your digital products?

Once you know how to make a product and determine the digital product you want to sell, the next step will be to choose the right platform for selling. In 2020, there were more than 7.1 million e-commerce sites in the market, so there is an abundance of choices.

But!

While many e-commerce platforms may be perfect for selling physical products and services, there is a big difference between selling physical and digital products online. To help you choose the ideal platform for you, we offer some guidelines to keep in mind:


Digital storage.

Since it can be easy to run out of space with a self-hosted platform, finding a platform with enough storage space for your digital files is very important. If you can find a platform that offers unlimited storage, that is even better.

Unfortunately, many platforms do not offer unlimited storage, but instead charge fees based on the amount of storage space your site requires. The more storage you need, the higher the price.

Shopping cart.

Studies show that 69.8% of shoppers abandon checkout after placing items in their cart - but by optimizing the checkout design, the average-sized e-commerce store can increase its conversion rate by 35%.

Cart abandonment is no longer a specific problem that only some e-commerce store owners struggle with, but rather it has become a general problem faced by the largest stores at high rates daily. According to a recent statistic, the cart abandonment rate reaches about 77.24%. This means that out of every ten people who enter the store, seven of them leave the shopping cart without completing the payment process.  

Integration with the best payment gateways.

To make the buying experience smoother, your e-commerce information should also include a variety of payment gateways. Although payment solutions like PayPal and Stripe are some of the most common, they may not always be the most suitable for every budget or geographic region, so it is essential that your website offers a wide range of payment options to accommodate all customers.

Furthermore, some platforms now offer one-click payment solutions such as PayPal One-Touch, which allows customers to enter their payment details once and use the one-click option every time thereafter.

No hidden transaction fees.

There is nothing worse than making a huge investment in a platform only to find out later that there is more to pay for. At first glance, many e-commerce platforms may seem like an easy opportunity to increase your sales and make quick money. Unfortunately, many platforms charge hidden fees for things like hosting, web development, website themes, and add-ons or plugins, and these fees can add up over time.

For example, with WooCommerce, merchants have to cover hosting, SSL certificate, and other features, which e-commerce platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify already include in their pricing.

Or, in some cases, a platform may charge extra fees for not using its own payment provider, such as Shopify charging an extra transaction fee of up to 2% on every sale for not using their payment provider.

Salla achieves all of this for you! Create your store now and make a profit from your first digital product.

Why should I choose Salla to sell my digital product?

1. Various payment solutions:
At Salla, we made it easy for you to integrate with the payment gateway and manage all operations from several aspects:

1. Ease of integration: If you wish to integrate with any payment gateway, you will face a complex series of lengthy procedures, such as the need for a commercial register and other proofs. However, at Salla, you only need to verify your store with Absher and the IBAN certificate, and then you can activate all payment methods with the click of a button! Just like that, without any additional requirements or complications.

2. Fast transfer cycle to your bank account: All funds paid via electronic payment reach you within 24-72 hours, depending on your package.

3. Competitive payment fees: Salla payment gateway fees for Mada: 1.75% + 1 SAR, and for Visa, Mastercard, and Apple Pay: 2.20% + 1 SAR excluding tax. It enables you to calculate expected fees using the fee calculator on the platform.
   
   

We also facilitate all other procedures for you in Salla, such as:

1. Integration with other payment gateways besides Salla gateway: Such as (Moyasar, PayTabs, Tap), but they will only appear for specific stores like charity associations and others.

2. Integration with digital wallets: In Salla, we enable you to integrate with PayPal and STC Pay, which are popular payment methods in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

3. Ability to integrate with buy now, pay later options: Studies have proven that providing deferral payment methods encourages your customer to buy from your store. Salla has provided you with the option to integrate with Tamara, Tabby, and Spotii, which offer your customer the ability to pay their purchase invoice in installments over 3-4 months.

4. Adding other payment methods: Such as cash on delivery and bank transfer, with support for attaching a copy of the receipt when paying by bank transfer.

5. Adding payment restrictions: You can add restrictions to display or block specific payment methods (such as cash on delivery), based on a certain order amount, number of orders, purchase from a specific category, or if the customer belongs to a certain group or country.

2. App Maker to create your own store application:

Salla enables you to create a custom application for your store on Android and iOS systems and manage it from the dashboard with ease, featuring many advantages such as:

1. Ability to create the app from Salla itself: Some platforms are just mediators between you and the app development company, which may result in delays in procedures.

2. Saving time: Salla allows you to create an app for your store within 72 hours, while other platforms take longer depending on the volume of products and store details, which could take up to several weeks.

3. Native App: Salla enables you to create a Native app rather than a Web View. Native apps feature more beautiful visual elements, better user experience, and faster, higher performance. In contrast, Web View is just a copy of the web version on mobile, which yields no difference and results in performance issues like delayed element loading or slow usage.

4. Full control from the same store control panel: In Salla, if you purchase the App Maker service, you will be able to control your entire store design, characteristics, offers, and send notifications from the same dashboard.

5. Distinguishing the store app from the web: One of the advantages of a Native app is that it allows you to distinguish your store on the app from the browser to differentiate them in terms of:

• Product visibility: You can control the visibility of some products on your store on the browser, the app only, or both.

• Customizing offers and discounts: You can create special promotional offers and discount coupons exclusive to the store app, the browser, or both, to encourage customers to use the app.

• Customizing design: You can customize the store design in the app differently from the web, resulting in an improved user experience.

6. Dedicated technical support: In case your app faces any issues, there will be a complete dedicated support team for store apps.

Integration with key tools dedicated for apps: You can integrate with marketing and analytical tools customized for mobile apps, such as Smartlook, Appsflyer, and Firebase.

3. A digital theme to highlight your digital products:

Store design is one of the most important factors contributing to its success and highlighting its products. Statistics have shown that a well-designed store increases its sales percentage by 200% compared to a store with a poor design or experience. Therefore, Salla offered you solutions for your store design, enabling you to control the design through 3 options:

1. Theme Store: Salla offers you many themes of various kinds to suit your store's design according to its business activity. There are themes developed by Salla and others by third-party developers. You can browse, preview, and select what suits you, whether free or paid. You can add customized elements for each theme and control your store's design from a single page. The digital theme is one of those that suit selling digital products.

2. Control store design via CSS and JS: In case you wish to change one of the store elements or add more properties to your store design, you can control your store design via CSS and JS. Salla also provided you with many articles to help you improve your store design yourself or by hiring a specialized developer.

3. Developing a custom theme for your store: If you wish to create a completely new custom theme for your store, Salla has provided you with the ability to employ a developer to develop a custom theme for your store through Salla Twilight.

4. Delivery of the digital product immediately after completing the payment process:

At Salla, we made it easier for both the customer and the merchant:
The customer: You receive your product immediately after payment.
The merchant: You do not need to confirm orders or stay online to respond to your customers.

How do you add your product on Salla after knowing how to make a digital product?

1. From the side menu of the control panel, click on (Products).

2. From the products page, click (New Product).

3. Select the product type as a digital product.

4. Enter the basic product details, then click (Save).

1- Add one or more images for the product, for more details on uploading product images and videos.

2- Product name, the name of the product that will be displayed to the customer.

3- Product price, which is the selling price of the product.

4- Product quantity, which is the available quantity of the product.

5- Product category, helping customize product display, view product reports, and more.

6- Product details, to customize product details such as quantity, price, barcode, and others.