Selling digital products online can be extremely lucrative thanks to having higher profit margins and lower overheads than physical products. With no production, storage or shipping costs, you can easily scale up without worrying about inventory.
The global market for digital products is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2022-2030, reaching a value of over $80 billion according to Emergen Research. Rapid innovation across technologies like blockchain, augmented reality and artificial intelligence will drive demand growth for specialized digital goods and services.
As an online business owner, focusing on digital products represents one of the biggest opportunities out there right now. This comprehensive guide will cover the top digital products worth selling in 2024, alongside proven tips to help you get started.
Hot Digital Product Trends for 2024
Let‘s first examine some of the most exciting digital product trends shaping business opportunities for the next year:
🚀 NFTs Continuing Meteoric Rise
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) saw over $40 billion in sales volume during 2021 per data from DappRadar.
And despite cooling off a little in 2022, NFT transaction volume is expected to grow at least fivefold by 2027 according to JPMorgan analysis.
From digital artworks and music to videos, books and even tweets, these uniquely identifiable blockchain tokens allow creators to sell virtual goods and unlock new income streams.
However, this market comes with risks of volatility and speculation. Yet global NFT adoption remains in its infancy – under 3% of those online have used this technology so far.
So opportunities for innovators and first movers still abound.
✨ Metaverse Playing Central Role
As platforms like Decentraland and The Sandbox develop their virtual worlds, demand for digital assets and experiences is rising rapidly.
Sales of virtual real estate exploded last year, with metaverse land now trading for upwards of $1 million according to data from MetaMetric Solutions!
As the table above shows, early movers have enjoyed triple and even 10x returns already from metaverse digital assets.
This is still only the tip of the iceberg, with the total addressable market expected to expand over 100x in the next few years.
So virtual real estate, NFT clothing, branded stores, and even metaverse careers represent huge 2023 opportunities.
🔮 Augmented & Virtual Reality Leveling Up
Both AR and VR hardware and software continue to advance rapidly thanks to investments from major tech giants like Meta, Apple and Microsoft.
Better graphics, mobility, compatibility and connectivity have enabled more consumer and commercial adoption in sectors like gaming, marketing, healthcare, design and beyond.
With forecasts like these from GlobalData, opportunities around AR and VR development, custom experiences and asset creation have never been better.
1. Online Courses & Tutoring
Online education remains extremely popular with no signs of slowing down. Whether you create masterclasses, structured video courses or offer one-on-one tutoring, selling access to your knowledge is a proven business model.
Focus on skills that are highly in-demand right now like:
💻 Programming & coding
💰 Cryptocurrency
👩💻 Digital marketing
🏢 Business strategy
📲 App development
🎨 Creative hobbies like photography, drawing, 3D modeling and more
Use specialized platforms like Teachable, Podia or Thinkific to create and sell your video course content.
Udemy is another option, however they do take a 50% cut of earnings which is less favorable for course creators.
Once your class curriculum is ready, heavily promote your offerings through avenues like:
✅ YouTube video ads and affiliate marketing
✅ Social media side hustle groups on Facebook
✅ LinkedIn to target professionals
✅ TikTok for younger demographics
Tutoring can happen over video call platforms like Zoom and be managed through scheduling tools like Calendly. Charge premium hourly rates reflecting your subject matter expertise.
The global e-learning market size alone is predicted to grow by $370 billion between 2022-2026 according to Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
So whether it‘s masterclasses or bespoke coaching, huge opportunities exist for online educators given how scalable tech enables selling knowledge worldwide 24/7.
2. Digital Art NFTs
Despite some cooling in hype through 2022, NFT art collections continue to drive mind-boggling sales and demonstrate the immense potential value certain digital art can hold.
Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks remain prime examples, with rare tokens trading for millions of dollars as celebrity endorsements drive more mass market awareness.
Platforms like OpenSea have made it easy for anyone to mint NFTs with little startup cost. An NFT entrepreneur named Victor Sauce went from zero to $700k+ in volume selling generative avatar art through strategic networking.
So while getting rich selling NFT art is far from guaranteed due to market volatility and challenges standing out, barriers to entry are still quite low if you have creative talent and some tech know-how.
Per the table above sourced from Statista, NFT transaction volume could grow over 3x in the next few years despite some analysts warning of a bubble.
Much of this activity is expected to shift towards mass market use cases around things like:
✅ Metaverse asset ownership
✅ Event tickets & experiences
✅ Gaming perks
✅ Loyalty rewards
✅ Digital fashion
Plus brand partnerships with the likes of Instagram, YouTube and TikTok will expose NFT capabilities to billions of mainstream users – suggesting digital collectibles still have a long runway ahead.
3. 3D Models & Assets
3D technology continues rapid innovation and adoption across sectors like gaming, product design, architecture, augmented reality and the burgeoning metaverse.
This leads to massive demand for custom 3D digital assets and environments.
If you have strong 3D modeling, animation and texturing skills, you can create and sell things like:
💬 3D characters – realistic, cartoony, animated
💬 Interior products – furniture, appliances
🏠 Architectural models like tiny homes
🚗 Photoreal vehicle models
🌄 Detailed environment sets – landscapes, parks, cityscapes
👚 Fashion items & accessories for virtual closets
🎮 Metaverse-ready avatars, buildings, landscapes
There are many popular marketplaces to sell your 3D creations, including:
💰 TurboSquid – Top-grossing 3D model marketplace
🎨 CGTrader – Specializes in 3D print models
🔬 SketchFab – Supports AR/VR models
Or you can build your own customer base selling models through Gumroad or specialized microstock platforms.
According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, the global 3D graphics software market is predicted to hit $244 billion by 2030 thanks to rising gaming, design and simulation use cases.
So now is the perfect time to start honing 3D skills and creating digital assets to capitalize on this demand.
4. Video Game Assets
The video games industry continues unprecedented growth thanks to mobile gaming, esports, virtual reality and cloud game streaming services.
Gaming is forecast to generate over $321 billion in global revenue by 2028 predicts Grand View Research.
This creates lucrative opportunities around selling digital assets used in game development, such as:
⭐ Character skins & costumes
⭐ 3D props like weapons or interactive objects
⭐ Environment textures & materials
⭐ Visual spell effects
⭐ Sound effect libraries
⭐ AI scripts & gameplay code snippets
⚡ Particle systems for explosions, fire, smoke, lightning, etc
Some top marketplaces for selling video game dev assets include:
🕹 Unity Asset Store – Popular with indie developers
🎮 Unreal Marketplace – Focused on Unreal Engine-based games
🐙 Sketchfab – Supports 3D models & environments
You can also directly sell your assets through Gumroad to interested game studios as custom work.
And don‘t just limit yourself to asset creation. Highly skilled programmers and scripters can offer ongoing consultation around game logic, mechanics and backend architecture.
5. Social Media Overlays & Graphics
Visual assets for content creators on booming platforms like TikTok, Twitch and YouTube remain in consistently high demand.
You can design and sell things like:
🖼 Stream overlays – Perfect for gamers & vloggers
🪩 Custom emotes – Animated supporter badges
📛 Badges & logos – Sponsor, follower and channel art
🎞 Green screen transitions – Zoom effects between scenes
👕 Merch mockups – Apparel visuals for store promotions
💠 AR filters & lenses – Interactive effects
Use sites like Gumroad or Selz to set up shop and easily sell overlays, emoji packs and other digital graphic assets globally.
Build your own audience on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Twitter to organically promote your store. Collaborate with creators to access their engaged fans.
The market for tools and services supporting influencer marketing alone could grow to $20 billion by 2028 according to Oberlo data.
So catering to this new generation of digital entertainers and personalities represents huge potential.
6. Digital Services
While the previous products mainly focus on creation and licensing, you can also sell highly skilled services leveraging industry knowledge.
Locations and time zones matter far less when providing digital-first services, enabling access to a global market.
Some popular digital services that sell extremely well include:
💻 Web design & development
💡 Business strategy consulting
📈 Digital marketing services
🎥 Video editing & animation
🎨 Graphic design
📝 Copywriting & translation services
👾 Game testing
Freelancing sites like Fiverr and Upwork provide great platforms to advertise your services and build reviews.
But higher earnings come from direct dealings with clients – use social media and community building to position your expertise and foster direct relationships.
Package offerings into defined monthly retainer services at premium rates e.g. SEO optimization packages, dedicated graphic design requests per month.
Software developer Nicholas Scalice charged $30k+ per client for dedicated mobile app consulting leveraging niche IoT experience, demonstrating the immense value specialized digital services can command.
Other Profitable Digital Products
Here are some other proven digital product concepts that can earn great income:
✏️ Info products – Reports, guides, templates, checklists
📚 Ebooks, online courses & audiobooks – Evergreen knowledge
🖋 Fonts & graphic design assets – Storage expanded through cloud syncing
🎵 Music files – Spotify normalization driving podcast and trailer music boom
📸 Stock photos & video footage – Continues rising shutterstock demand
👔 Resume / CV templates – Recession set to boost job market turnover
🏆 Trophy & achievement assets – Gaming and social media adoption
👾 Virtual real estate & NFTs metaverse assets
And many more possibilities as technology progresses!
Diversify and experiment with ideas at different effort levels and price points.
Passive income products like fonts or stock media you create once but can sell again and again offer exciting recurring profit streams.
Getting Started: How To Sell Digital Products
Once you‘ve decided on a winning digital product concept tailored to market demand, it‘s time to handle the technical aspects of building, packaging and selling online.
Here is a high level overview of the simple steps to take:
➡️ Set up your digital storefront
Use specialized ecommerce platforms like Gumroad, SendOwl or Selz that are purpose-built to sell digital downloads.
These make it easy to quickly setup a landing page, add product listings like descriptions, images and pricing, integrate payment collection, and instantly fulfill purchases by automatically delivering digital files.
Much simpler than wrestling with Shopify or WooCommerce just for digital products.
🚚 Automate delivery with digital asset management
You need to safely store, track and control customer access permissions to your digital files.
Solutions like Cloudinary (media hosting) and MailerLite (email marketing system) combine cloud storage for your asset library with tools to customize purchase confirmation messaging and instantly share links to digitally fulfill orders.
Fulfilled purchases can offer temporary access or permanent ownership depending on your pricing model.
📈 Marketing and audience building
Just having an online storefront alone won‘t drive sales. Marketing makes up 80% of ecommerce success.
You‘ll need social media ads, email campaigns, SEO optimization, promotional giveaways, and free samples to attract potential buyers.
Building personal brand awareness and an engaged audience that trusts you enough to purchase your products takes significant time and skill – but pays dividends scaling digital sales.
Selling specialized digital products online removes many headaches that come with physical inventory and logistics.
By leveraging online storefront platforms and effective marketing, solo entrepreneurs and small teams can build location-independent income streams around digital assets.
And thanks to accelerating technological shifts like 5G connectivity, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, opportunities to profit from sought-after digital products will only continue multiplying through 2023 and beyond!
