MozillaStore/The General Idea

The General Idea "The open web was built with free t-shirts." - Terry Pratchett*

Our community is obsessed with gear. Technology conferences hand out free t-shirts. Developers litter their desks with collectibles from their favourite video games. And there is no easier way to show your support of a cause than to don a branded cap.

Mozillians are no exception. Volunteers, community members, and employees proudly collect and wear Mozilla t-shirts. There is significant and unaddresed demand for Mozilla and Firefox gear. Yet, at the moment, there is no central path for members of the public - volunteers, users, community members, partners - to order Mozilla swag.

Over the past 6 months, the Mozilla development team (fundraising) has led a feasibility study examining the potential of launching a public-facing gear store (Gear Store). Through conversations, surveys, and other forms of market research, we found that:

•Mozilla and Firefox remain world-class, meaningful, and beloved brands;

•T-shirts, swag, and other premiums anchor many of our fundraising, community engagement, and product marketing activities; and

•There is an existing and continued appetite for high-end, well-made Mozilla gear.

Based on these findings, we conducted a vendor analysis, developed financial projections, and prepared a path-to-market strategy with a specific focus on addressing the fail points in past efforts. In short, we recommend that Mozilla:

•Launch a Gear Store in Q4 2013 with an initial selection of products, including branded clothing, caps, bags, and limited-edition prints;

•Engage Treehouse Brand Stores, a full-service consultancy, to design the storefront, manage sourcing, fulfillment, and customer service in collaboration with a Gear Store committee (members from the development, community, and brand teams);

•Launch a web storefront at gear.mozilla.org powered by Shopify Enterprise solutions;

•Work to integrate the Gear Store as a strategic asset within marketing, community engagement, and fundraising activities; and

•Record the resulting revenue as donations towards the Mozilla mission and our public support test.

This plan follows best practices in e-commerce and provides an evolutionary path towards more products, smarter logistics, richer localization, and community engagement opportunities—while limiting our risk exposure and managing a gradual roll-out.

A well-functioning, global Gear Store will generate a projected $## per year in donations revenue, underpin our project's renewed focus on community engagement, and drive global brand awareness as we launch FirefoxOS.

Our first logo was designed by the artist who turned Obama's face into global cultural iconography. There's cultural cachet to be regained. The thinking, numbers, and planning behind these recommendations are outlined in the document below.