Store SIG Update - a.k.a. State of the SIG

[Jeffrey Tadlock]

It is time for a Fedora Store SIG update!  To bring people up to
speed, the Fedora Store SIG was founded by Max Spevack as a means to
solve two major issues - provide an easy way for Fedora users and
contributors to obtain Fedora merchandise and help direct Fedora
Ambassadors to vendors that are near them who can help fill bulk
orders for events they attend.  More details can be found on the
Fedora SIG page [1].

We have made progress, though it has been slow going.  With the past
two meetings being canceled due to lack of attendance I felt it was
time to provide a summary of where we are at today and what last
things we need to wrap up in order to move forward.

Let's start with some of the things we have accomplished so far.  We
now have an AmbassadorVendors page [2] in the wiki to help Fedora
ambassadors locate a vendor in their area to place bulk orders for
T-shirts and such from.  Ambassadors are welcome to continue adding to
this page as they work with vendors in their area and have a good
experience.

We have also created a potential vendors list page [3] for a
distributor/online store to center discussion on who to use for
providing merchandise to Fedora users and contributors in smaller
quantities.  This page includes pros and cons the group has come up
with for each potential vendor.

And finally, we have created a rather long list of potential items [4]
people would like to see.  Obviously we cannot use all of them out of
the gate, but we certainly have a wide array of items that people have
express interest in with the Fedora logo emblazoned on.

So, what's left?  We need to decide on a vendor.  The front runners at
this point seem to be www.cafepress.com and www.spreadshirt.com.  We
really need more input on this aspect though.  The pros and cons are
listed on our potential vendors page.

Initially I was leaning towards spreadshirt.com, but as time has gone
on I am now leaning more towards cafepress.com.  The basis for this is
from a recent discussion regarding posters on the Marketing and
Ambassadors list.  Mairin Duffy worked up some great Fedora posters
[5] and discussion quickly turned to making them available for
purchase.  If the store was hosted on spreadshirt.com, the option
really isn't there.  With cafepress.com we could easily upload the
graphics and have the posters ready for sale.  This is a major selling
point to cafepress.com to me.  But we need more opinions.

The other item the Store SIG could use some help with is a mockup of a
potential store.fedoraproject.org page.  We have outlined some general
requirements [6] on the wiki.  I have also submitted requests to the
Art Team's mailing list and to the Websites team Page Request page
[7].  A mockup would really help pull things together for the concept
we have in mind.

That's where we stand.  If you have comments on cafepress.com versus
spreadshirt.com, please post them to the mailing list, add comments to
my blog or update the wiki page.  If you can help with a mockup of a
store.fp.o page, please volunteer and let me know.

Thanks!
Jeffrey

[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Store
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ambassadors/AmbassadorVendors
[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Store/PotentialDistributors
[4] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Store/ProposedItems
[5] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/MarketingCollateral#head-3eacb7cfafb67dcefa9870863e51c8c16745db02
[6] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Store/GeneralRequirements
[7] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Websites/PageRequests