But, for this to happen, 1) the details around the selling process need to be looked at and decisions made, and 2) some attractive designs need to be created.
When some designs are ready (more on that, below), we can either
- Create an account at one or more print on demand (POD) companies that provide a storefront at their domain, which we would link to with banners and so on, or
- Implement a storefront at tiki.org that would integrate with an account that we would create at the POD company. These companies specify storefront software like PrestaShop, WooCommerce, and Shopify. Or some companies provide an API that developers can use to link their own storefront or shopping cart software to the account at the company.
Print on demand companies
Some POD companies have a marketplace (with products from many creators in one place), which can attract traffic in itself, but these are pretty saturated and competitive, and some don't, so driving traffic is up to us. I think we can assume that it will be up to use to promote the merch wherever we can, wherever is appropriate. The table below shows a comparison of several top POD companies that the TSCA might be able to use. I'm still looking for other possibilities.
| Company | Includes a storefront | Subscription | Profit Model | Product Base Price | Transaction Fees | Int'l shipping | TrustPilot rating |
| Printify (works with 3rd parties for actual printing) | https://printify.com/pop-up-store/ - (Oops, pop-up store not available to merchants based in Canada.) Also integrates with PrestaShop, etc. | Free or $29/month (Printify Premium) | You set your own margins | Varies (choose your provider) | No extra fees beyond product cost | Yes | 4.7 |
| Fourthwall - https://fourthwall.com/non-profits | Yes - examples: https://fourthwall.com/creator-examples/all-examples | Free | Fourthwall takes a 10% cut of profits | Fixed (set by Fourthwall) | Standard payment processing fees. Payment: "We use the payment processor Stripe to facilitate secure payouts directly to your bank account via ACH, wire transfer, or debit card." | Product selection for int'l orders (not US) is more limited. | 4.8 |
| Gelato - https://www.gelato.com/ | No, provides an API or use with Shopify, Etsy, or WooCommerce | Has free version | Yes | 4.6 | |||
| Spreadshop - https://www.spreadshop.com/ | Yes | No | Seller sets own margins | Fixed | 2.3 | ||
| Zazzle - https://www.zazzle.com/ | Yes | Product has a base price - selling price set by seller. | Fixed. | Yes | 4.5 | ||
| GearLaunch - https://www.gearlaunch.com/platform | Yes | Seller sets selling price. | Fixed | 7% of profit goes to GearLaunch. | Yes | 3.9 |
Storefront options
What other organizations do for a storefront
Drupal (https://www.drupal.org/swag) uses Spreadshop - https://drupal.myspreadshop.com/
Joomla uses J2Commerce (https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/j2store/) to integrate with Spreadshirt (https://www.spreadshirt.com/start-selling-shirts-C3598)
WordPress uses WooCommerce (I assume) - https://wordpress.com/plugins/browse/shop
Wikipedia - the storefront at https://store.wikimedia.org/ is powered by Shopify
As mentioned, to sell products at or via tiki.org, there are several ways available:
1. Tiki shopping cart feature
The ideal solution would be to develop the Tiki shopping cart feature to be able to interact via API with the POD, but this isn't realistic for the near term. As I understand it, this shopping cart is designed for selling goods whose data is stored as tracker items. As far as I know, the code isn't able to handle the kind of interaction needed to coordinate with a print on demand order fulfillment service. It would be nice if it were possible, but I suspect it isn't currently. More information is needed on this.
Longer-term, what is the plan for this feature? Is there interest in making it more comparable to other options? Or is this a feature where it would be better to not reinvent the wheel and make it easier to integrate an existing tried and true solution?
2. Storefront provided by POD company
Probably the next-best choice would be to use the storefront provided by a POD company such as those indicated in the table that can provide this for us on the company's site, which Tiki would link to in our merchandise promotion. This would be the easiest solution in the near term.
As shown in the table, these include Fourthwall, Spreadshop, Zazzle, and GearLaunch (that will work for TSCA). If there's a consensus to go ahead, I will look further into the details in each case, etc. as well as look for others.)
3. Standalone shopping cart software
A middle option might be to install standalone shopping cart software such as PrestaShop on the same server as the Tiki site (or on another server that would be linked to?).
PrestaShop - https://prestashop.com/, https://prestashop.com/open-source/
OpenCart - https://www.opencart.com/ (GPL)
CubeCart - https://www.cubecart.com/ (GPL)
LiteCart - https://www.litecart.net/ , https://github.com/litecart/litecart (Creative Commons license)
Thirty Bees - https://thirtybees.com/ (GPL, MIT)
Also, a comparison here: https://financesonline.com/best-open-source-shopping-cart-software/
One of these would have to be installed on the server alongside Tiki.
About the designs
Something else to think about is what kind of graphics are possible. These are some things I've thought about, but a lot of brainstorming and individual creative efforts would be good on this.
- Logo graphics, combined with some descriptive phrases and/or images - this seems like the most logical and typical starting point for an organization or software merchandise.
- Comics (manga) - I thought a two- or four-pane comic depicting, for example, a problem and solution, along with branding, might have possibilities.
- Self-deprecating or ironic imagery and text - something like "the least well-known web software with the most features" . . . but catchier than that.
- Unusual combinations of graphics and standard text - a standard Tiki description phrase combined with an eye-catching image.
- The software components schematic on the website is a good candidate for maybe the previous point.
- Another idea: a recipe illustration, where features are the ingredients (in containers) and the directions are how to configure the site, using cooking metaphors
- A mascot makes its debut 😉❓ - if we could come up with something that wouldn't be embarrassing to have on our t-shirts, etc. Creating a mascot in the abstract doesn't seem that interesting, but if we are selling merchandise, then a mascot would have a purpose. Maybe I've been in Japan too long, but my feeling is that merchandise and characters are a natural pairing. So, while people are coming up with the graphics, they can be thinking about the character too, what goes well with the messaging and so on.
- Seems like there could be several series of designs or design types created independently, to showcase different creators and offer a wide range of styles to customers, with some more conventional and some more innovative.
Ideally, the graphics would be clever and attractive enough that the merchandise would be appealing to people (some people anyway) even if they aren't familiar with Tiki - anyway that is a good goal to shoot for, for at least some design categories.
About the general image
These things won't be evident in every design, but in designs that have some social context, these characteristics can be presented as positive points in some way:
- Open Source and free of charge
- Project's emphasis on "wiki" participation and grassroots organization
- Project's early focus on "do-ocracy" and activism
- The software enabling the site's participants owning their own data as opposed to it being owned by a corporation
- Secure data transfer and storage
- The fact that the TSCA is registered in Canada is probably a plus for the image.
These points are probably especially pertinent in the current political atmosphere and how Tiki is a product of and facilitator of personal freedom and grassroots organization.
Is rebranding a possibility?
The topic of rebranding - changing the software name from Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware to something else - has come up a few times over the years. It seems natural to think about it if we are about to embark on a merchandise project. Of course, this is a separate issue from the merchandise decisions but could be thought about together depending on how people feel.
There are a few reasons I'm bringing this up now. I've noticed new people to the project shortening the full name to "Tiki Wiki" or "Tiki CMS" when writing about it; this illustrates the problem.
About the components of the current name, with the passing of time, very few people have any idea what "groupware" is. (Check Google Trends to see the steady decline in interest in this term.) Also, maybe it's just me but it seems the concept of a wiki is not especially compelling, not like it was a decade or two ago, so I don't think that term adds much value in the name. "CMS" is still current, though not exciting and doesn't comprehensively describe what Tiki actually is.
What I suggest is to keep the "Tiki" part of the name to retain the legacy connection, and allow us to continue using the logo graphics, but replace "Wiki CMS Groupware" with something more up to date, more interesting, more catchy, more comprehensive, and so on. My idea is to have just one word, ideally, maybe with some internal capitalization, so it would be unique and distinctive. It would still convey the general idea of what Tiki is but wouldn't be limited by the terms in the current name. I have a few ideas, and one personal favorite, but I'll keep them to myself for now.