The content creation and e-commerce industry offers rewarding profits to its creators because it relies on accessible and easy-to-use methods.  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, through e-commerce and dropshipping, to how to create a digital product and sell it.

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

What are digital products?

Before asking yourself how to create a product and how to market a product, it might be worthwhile to define digital products. They are intangible products that offer diverse, useful solutions for users, whether they are entrepreneurs or learners.

However, the biggest advantage is that you don't need to reproduce them every time.  In other words, production costs do not increase with higher demand.
You create them once; therefore, their production cost is low.

Types of digital products include: educational courses, various subscription services and music services, mobile applications and computer software, various videos and media, and gift cards for your store.

Advantages of selling digital products

Before learning how to create a digital product, there are a number of advantages that make the decision to sell digital products a preferred choice for promoting products online:

* Low investment (potential) and high returns

Online marketplaces and e-commerce tools are relatively inexpensive compared to leasing a physical location or building physical inventory. This translates to 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 rental hassles

Besides the fact that you do not have to cover the cost of producing, storing, or shipping physical items, you can also avoid logistical hassles. We will mention shortly the shipping services that Salla provides, which you can benefit from to stay away from this trouble.

* Cash flow even when you are busy

If you already have a day job that keeps you busy, digital products sold across online channels can keep cash flowing even if you spend most of your week at your full-time job.

Inspiring ideas to help you determine how to create 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 wish 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 accessible to almost anyone.

Music and art.

Do you have an artistic side? You may already be monetising your talents in tangible ways, such as performing live shows or selling custom t-shirts, but there are plenty of ways to turn your artistic skills into digital products as well.

If you are a professional musician or simply enjoy recording music in your spare time, try selling snippets of your songs to be used as ringtones. Or, if you are a filmmaker, you can sell movies or video clips online. Many graphic designers create and sell digital art, whether as mobile or desktop wallpapers, printable cards, or wall decals. Many artists sell digital downloads of their artwork on platforms like Etsy or Society6.

Digital tools and templates.

Many professionals often lack the time and resources to handle all the necessary tasks for their businesses. They might lack the experience or tools needed to execute a specific task, and this is where you can step in and save the day.

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

• Digital media planners.

• Mobile apps for businesses.

• Graphic design templates for print materials and websites.

• Fonts, logos, icons, and UX kits.

Memberships.

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

Digital gift cards.

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

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

After understanding how to create a product and deciding which digital product you want to sell, the next step will be choosing the right platform for selling. In 2020, there were more than 7.1 million e-commerce websites on the market, so there is an abundance of options.

However!

While many e-commerce platforms might be well-suited for selling physical products and services, there is a big difference between selling physical and digital products online. To help you choose your ideal platform, we offer some guidelines worth considering:


Digital storage.

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

Unfortunately, many platforms do not provide unlimited storage capacity; instead, they 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 the checkout process after placing items in their shopping cart—yet by optimising the checkout design, an average-sized e-commerce store can increase its conversion rate by 35%

Cart abandonment is no longer a niche problem faced solely by some online store owners; it has become a widespread challenge that the largest stores grapple with at high rates daily. According to a recent statistic, the cart abandonment rate reaches around 77.24%, meaning that out of every ten people who visit a store, seven leave their shopping carts without completing the checkout process.  

Integration with top payment gateways.

To make the purchasing experience smoother, your e-commerce platform information should also include a variety of payment gateways. Although payment solutions like PayPal and Stripe are among the most popular, they may not always be the most convenient for every budget or geographical region. Therefore, it is essential that your website provides a wide range of payment options to accommodate all customers.

Moreover, some platforms now offer one-click checkout solutions like PayPal One-Touch, allowing customers to enter their payment details once and use the one-click option every time after that.

No hidden transaction fees.

There is nothing worse than making a huge investment in a platform only to discover later that there are additional costs. At first glance, many e-commerce platforms might seem like an easy opportunity to boost your sales and make money quickly. Unfortunately, many platforms charge hidden fees for things like hosting, web development, website themes, and add-on plugins or apps, and these fees can accumulate over time.

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

Or, in some cases, a platform might charge additional fees for not using its proprietary payment provider; for example, Shopify charges additional transaction fees of up to 2% on each sale for not using their own payment provider.

Salla delivers all of that for you! Create your store now and generate profit from your very first digital product.

Why choose Salla to sell my digital product?

1. Diverse payment solutions:
At Salla, we have made integrating with payment gateways and handling all transactions simple in several ways:

1. Ease of integration: If you wish to connect with any payment gateway, you will face a series of complicated, lengthy procedures, such as needing a commercial register and other documentation. With Salla, however, all you need is to verify your store via Absher and submit an IBAN certificate, after which you can activate all payment methods with the click of a button! Just like that, without any extra requirements or complications.

2. Fast fund transfer cycle to your bank account: All funds paid via electronic payments reach your account within 24 to 72 hours, depending on your plan.

3. Competitive payment fees: Salla’s payment gateway fees for mada are: SAR 1 + 1.75%, and for Visa, Mastercard, and Apple Pay: SAR 1 + 2.20% exclusive of VAT. You can also calculate fees to estimate them using the fee calculator on the platform.
   
   

At Salla, we also simplify all other procedures for you, such as:

1. Connecting with payment gateways other than Salla's: such as (Moyasar, PayTabs, KNET Tap), but these will only appear for specific stores, such as charities and others.

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

3. Option to connect Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) methods: Studies have shown that offering deferred payment options encourages your customer to buy from your store. Salla has made it possible for you to connect with Tamara, Tabby, and Spotii, which allow your customers to split their purchase bills over 3 to 4 months.

4. Adding other payment methods: such as Cash on Delivery and bank transfer, with support for attaching a receipt screenshot when paying via bank transfer.

5. Adding payment rules and restrictions: You can add rules to show or restrict specific payment methods (such as Cash on Delivery)—for instance, requiring a specific order value, number of orders, purchasing from a certain category, or based on a specific customer group or country.

2. App Maker to build your custom store app:

Salla enables you to create a dedicated app for your store on Android and iOS and manage it seamlessly from the control panel, featuring many advantages such as:

1. Ability to create the app directly through Salla: Some platforms merely act as an intermediary between you and the app development company, which may lead to delays in procedures.

2. Time efficiency: Salla allows you to create an app for your store within 72 hours, whereas other platforms take longer depending on product volume and store details, which can extend to several weeks.

3. Native app: Salla enables you to build a native app rather than a WebView. A native app features better visual elements, a superior user experience, and faster, higher performance. In contrast, a WebView is essentially a replica of the mobile web version that offers nothing different, leading to performance hiccups like slow element loading or sluggish usage.

4. Full control from the same store dashboard: At Salla, when you purchase the App Maker service, you will be able to manage your store’s entire design, features, offers, and push notifications directly from the same dashboard.

5. Differentiating the store app from the web version: One of the advantages of a native app is that it allows you to distinguish between your store on the app and on the browser in terms of:

•  Product visibility: You can control whether certain products appear on your store via browser, exclusively on the app, or on both.

•  Customising promotions and discounts: You can create custom offers and discount coupons tailored specifically for the store app, the browser, or both, to encourage customers to use the app.

• Design customisation: You can customise the store layout in the app differently from the web, resulting in an enhanced user experience.

1. Dedicated technical support: Should your app encounter any issues, a comprehensive support team dedicated to store applications will be available.

Integration with key app-specific tools: You can connect with dedicated marketing and analytics tools for mobile apps, such as Smartlook, AppsFlyer, and Firebase.

3. Digital themes to highlight your digital products:

Store design is one of the most critical factors driving its success and showcasing its products. Statistics have proven that a well-designed store increases sales by 200% compared to a store with a poor design or user experience. Therefore, Salla provides you with 3 store design solutions to give you full control over styling:

1.  Theme Store: Salla offers a wide range of diverse themes to suit your store’s design based on its business activity. There are themes developed by Salla and others by third-party developers. You can browse, preview, and select what suits you best—whether free or paid—add custom elements for each theme, and manage your store design from a single page. Raqami (Digital) theme is one of the themes tailored for selling digital products.

2.  Customising store design via CSS and JS: If you wish to modify any store elements or add more capabilities to your store design, you can control your store’s styling using CSS and JS. Salla also provides numerous articles to help you enhance your store design yourself or with the assistance of a specialist developer.

3. Developing a custom theme for your store: If you want to create a brand-new custom theme for your store, Salla enables you to hire a developer to build a bespoke theme using Salla Twilight.

4. Instant delivery of digital products upon checkout:

At Salla, we have made it convenient for both the customer and the merchant:
Customer: Receives the product immediately after payment.
Merchant: No need to confirm orders or stay online to respond to your customers.

How do you add your product on Salla after learning how to create a digital product?

1. From the dashboard side menu, click on (Products).

2. From the Products page, click on (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 of the product; for more details on uploading product photos and videos.

2- Product Name: The product title that will appear to the customer.

3- Product Price: The selling price of the product.

4- Product Quantity: The available stock of the product.

5- Product Category: Helps organise product displays, view product reports, and more.

6- Product Details: To configure product specifics such as quantity, price, barcode, and others.