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 a print on demand (POD) company that provides 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 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.
| Company | Includes a storefront | Subscription | Profit Model | Product Base Price | Transaction Fees | Int'l shipping | TrustPilot rating |
| Printful | Only for US | 4.7 | |||||
| Printify (works with 3rd parties for actual printing) | https://printify.com/pop-up-store/ - 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 | 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 | You set your own margins | Fixed | 2.3 |
Storefront options
As mentioned, to sell products at or via tiki.org, rather than at the storefront provided by the POD company, we would need to use shopping cart or storefront software.
Tiki's shopping cart feature
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?
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.
Some open-source shopping cart options
https://financesonline.com/best-open-source-shopping-cart-software/
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)
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 graphic approach 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.
- 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.
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. For one thing, 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 relatively 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. I have a few ideas, but I'll keep them to myself for now.