If you’ve ever tried to sell a digital product, course, or community online, you’ve probably run into the same problem I did: there’s no single platform that does everything well.

Course platforms are great for hosting videos and managing students, but not so great for selling, marketing, or running the rest of your business. E-commerce platforms may seem like they're just for physical products, but think again!

Over the past few years, Shopify has quietly become a powerful option for selling digital products, courses, and communities. And it’s changed the way I run my entire business.

What Kinds of Digital Products You Can Sell on Shopify

Shopify can handle everything from instant downloads, memberships and even fully interactive communities.

Here are some examples of digital products you can sell:

Templates + Spreadsheets

Templates are perfect for sharing your systems, processes, or creative tools — whether that’s a Notion planner, Airtable tracker, budgeting spreadsheet, content calendar, or business workflow. You can sell files in formats like PDF, Excel, CSV, or links to duplicate a Notion or Airtable template after purchase. 

Ebooks + Guides

Ebooks and guides let you share your ideas, stories, or expertise in a digital format that customers can access instantly. This could be a novel, a short story collection, a cookbook, a craft guide, or any kind of creative or educational content.

They can be sold on their own or bundled with other digital or physical products, like an audiobook version, companion workbook, or related merchandise.

Digital Art + Creative Resources

Sell downloadable artwork, SVGs, Procreate brushes, Lightroom presets, or design elements.

Music + Audio Files

Musicians, podcasters, or audio creators can sell tracks, samples, sound effects, or full albums directly through Shopify.

Online Courses

Full courses, mini classes, or workshops that your students can access instantly after purchase. 

Memberships + Communities

Host a paid membership or private community. You can create exclusive spaces, content, and discussions that your customers access right through Shopify.

Coaching + Services

Offer strategy calls, audits, or consulting sessions as digital products that customers can pay for and schedule at the same time.

Event Tickets — Virtual or In-Person

Sell tickets to workshops, webinars, conferences, or in-person events.

Bundles + Hybrid Offers

Mix digital and physical together — like selling a printed workbook plus a digital version, or a physical kit that comes with access to a private video tutorial.

Shopify Apps for Selling Digital Products

One of the biggest advantages of selling digital products on Shopify is the app store. Apps let you manage delivery, access, memberships, bookings, and other features that course or download platforms usually handle — all without leaving your Shopify store.

Here are some of the apps I use and recommend for digital products, courses, and services:

• Digital Downloads (free by Shopify) – Automatically delivers downloadable files like PDFs, spreadsheets, templates, or music after checkout.
  
  

• SendOwl - Alternative app for digital file delivery if you need more options, like multiple file formats or download limits.

• Apntly or Cally – Schedule and sell appointments, coaching sessions, or virtual events. Integrates with your calendar for smooth booking.

• Tevello – Hosts courses and communities directly inside Shopify. Perfect for selling lessons, managing student access, and creating private member areas.

• Judge.me – Collect reviews for digital products or courses to build social proof and trust. The free plan is great.

These apps make it possible to run your entire digital business on Shopify, seamlessly. And you may also want to use Shopify Email as your email marketing service too! 

Why Shopify Works So Well for Digital Products + Courses

At its core, Shopify is built to sell things. That means all the features that make it a great platform for physical products — like their checkout, product management, app store, analytics and integrations — are just as important for digital product sellers.

Here’s what makes Shopify such a good choice:

• All-in-one store and website: You can sell courses, digital downloads, coaching sessions, and physical products all in one place. Your products will be  integrated within the rest of your site with all of your pages and blog, if you have one. See how some of my products are in the sidebar of this blog post?

• Cart + checkout experience: Customers can add multiple items to their cart (something most course and digital product sales platforms can't do!) and check out directly on your site.

• Apps + integrations: Use the Shopify App Store to add features like bundles, reviews, affiliate programs, upsells, and course delivery. Apps like these can help you build credibility, create a better customer experience and ultimately help you sell more.

• Control over branding: Your store, your domain, your design — no “hosted on [platform name]” banners.

• Instant delivery: Deliver courses, downloads, and community access instantly with apps built for digital sellers.

And because everything happens on your own website, it builds your SEO, keeps your analytics clean, and gives you more control over your customer experience.

How It Compares to Course Platforms

Before moving my courses to Shopify, I used a combination of tools: WordPress for my website, Kartra for my courses and funnels, and a Facebook Group for my private community.

That setup worked — but it felt clunky.

Here's what it looked like:

Some of the biggest limitations I ran into:

• Dozens of hidden lead pages that didn’t help my SEO.

• Disjointed experience for customers who bought more than one course.

• Manual updates every time I changed pricing or offers.

• Limited analytics and weak e-commerce tools.

• Poor customer followup without good automations

• No easy way to embed products on my website or blog posts.

The frustration peaked when I had multiple courses and wanted people to be able to buy more than one at a time. I built a separate WordPress page listing them all, manually updating prices, and linked each button to a different Kartra checkout page.

Every time I ran a launch or updated pricing, I’d spend hours fixing links. It wasn’t sustainable.

So I started wondering…
What if I moved to Shopify?

I had already been designing Shopify stores for clients for over 5 years at this point, but hadn't really considered it for myself. I was primarily a service provider. But after creating multiple digital products and building a band-aid version of a store on my website, I finally realized it was exactly what I needed. 

Behind the Scenes: How I Set Up My Shopify Course, Shop School

I launched Shop School back in 2020. It's a course and community for product-based business owners who want to build their own Shopify stores. Since then, over 300 students have gone through the program. 

When I rebuilt my website on Shopify in 2024, I moved everything — all of my courses, my portfolio, and my blog, to live under one roof. And I also added the Shopify Power Hour and Mini Shopify Site Audits as products. 

Here are the Shopify apps I use to make it all happen:

• Tevello hosts my course and private community directly inside Shopify.

• Judge.me for reviews (free plan).

• UpPromote Affiliates to manage affiliates (free plan).

• Apntly for booking strategy sessions.

• Aftersell for post-purchase upsells during launches.

Customers can now browse all of my products — courses, and services — in one place, add multiple to their cart, and check out seamlessly.

Here's what my platform setup looks like now:

As soon as customers complete checkout, they get instant access to their course or digital product through their Shopify account. No Zapier connections or third-party logins required.

The Results of Moving to Shopify

Switching everything to Shopify has made a huge difference:

• My conversion rates have doubled.

• My tech stack is simpler. I can update pages, courses, or products right from my phone.

• My sales have increased, especially for strategy sessions and site reviews.

• The customer experience is smoother, and I’ve received great feedback from students.

Everything in my business is finally centralized.

My courses, my community, my Power Hour calls, my blog, my email signup pages, my portfolio -- it’s all managed inside Shopify. It's been a huge tech upgrade. 

If you sell courses, digital products, or community memberships, or want to add them alongside your physical products, Shopify is a seriously powerful option.

You don’t need to manage multiple platforms or worry about disjointed customer experiences. You can create one beautiful, seamless storefront where everything you offer lives together.

And for me, that’s been the best business decision I’ve made since launching Shop School.