Re: GNOME Store

[Dave Neary <dneary gnome org>]

Hi,

While the project didn't go through to completion because the company we
signed with went out of business, we have gone through this process
before - I documented the process and hit on some of the very same
issues you mention - gnome.org URL, selection of products, and Zazzle
was among the companies I talked with.

The process is documented in
http://live.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/MerchandisingAgreement

As I understand it, Zazzle will do specific custom deals for high volume
brands. For lower value brands such as our, you can easily set up a
custom shop-front with the Zazzle store management software like this:
http://www.zazzle.com/southpark

I also understood from our discussions that Zazzle could set up vhosts
for a store.gnome.org sub-domain, but that they couldn't do a fully
custom interface for us - it would be a standard Zazzle shop-front.

Cheers,
Dave.

Paul Cutler wrote:
> Hi, I wanted to continue a conversation regarding a GNOME store that I
> had sent to the foundation-list
> (http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-April/msg00060.html)
> and per Stormy's last email in the thread, continue it in marketing.
>
> We currently have an affiliate store set up at Hackerthreads: 
> http://www.hackerthreads.com/items.asp?Cc=GNOME&Bc=
> <http://www.hackerthreads.com/items.asp?Cc=GNOME&Bc=>
>
> I'll be the first to admit I don't have all the information on the
> current setup, including adding products and the revenue model. 
> However, in my experience at a former employer running e-commerce sites,
> having a punch out site with a different URL decreases customer
> conversion to buy.
>
> One alternative that came up in #marketing in IRC last week was using
> Zazzle, who manages the Mozilla store (http://store.mozilla.org/).
>
> Some ideas around a GNOME store, that may help increase sales & revenue:
>
> * GNOME URL (store.gnome.org <http://store.gnome.org>)
> * User generated logos / content that can be added to merchandise
> * Limited edition merchandise (Could we create demand by having certain
> artwork / logos available for a limited time?  Or create a campaign or
> use merchandise to support a larger campaign for GNOME)
> * Greater selection of products
>
> Of course, this would probably cause more work - setting up the store,
> managing inventory (Mozilla has a clearance store), HTML, requesting and
> approving logos and artwork from the community, etc.  My idea may be
> totally crazy considering all the other work around the website that's
> going on as well.
>
> I'm not sure what value added services Hackerthreads or Zazzle can offer
> around these ideas, or what other ideas the community may have to add,
> but these were some things I thought we may want to think about.
>
> I'd like to gauge if there is any interest in the community around this
> idea?  If so, we may want to create a small team that can help screen
> artwork, choose what kinds of merchandise to sell in conjunction with a
> fulfilment partner, and work with the web team to get a store implement.
>
> Thoughts or concerns?
>
> Paul
>
>
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-- 
Dave Neary
GNOME Foundation member
dneary gnome org