Digital Products vs Subscription Box, startup cost comparison, StartupLenz

Digital Products

Higher net

Templates, presets, courses, printables — sell once, deliver instantly, no inventory.

Gross$2,514

Net profit$1,802

Margin71.7%

Orders/mo80

Refunds$78 3%

Payment fees$75 3%

Marketplace fees$201 8%

Affiliate payout$75 3%

Ad spend$300 12%

Fixed costs$60 2%

launch · 1–3$856

traction · 4–8$2,235

scale · 9–12$4,316

Excellent margins. Your real asset is the email list — you're capturing ~120 new subs/month.

Monthly product boxes with sourcing, packaging, fulfillment, and churn modeling

Gross$8,294

Net profit$1,246

Margin15.0%

Orders/mo217

Box contents$2,604 31%

Packaging$543 7%

Shipping$1,302 16%

Payment fees$249 3%

Acquisition$1,250 15%

Fixed costs$1,100 13%

launch · 1–3$1,773

traction · 4–8$2,865

scale · 9–12$3,554

Healthy for an indie box. Squeeze the COGS-per-box line and you'll free up real cash.