I had my first attempt to draw up what I would like to see this market place to provide. Please see the attached diagram.
The sketch is based on the considerations of what I heard from various posts:
-- quality and customer satisfactory is important
-- open bidding is not preferred. I also think this might be odd given the fact that this marketplace is spawn off from an existing community that many people have known each others already.
So, without worring about how this will actually work, here is what I have, the market place will consist of:
- shops
- directories
- matching services
- account manager (for large project)
- and associate services
-- The shops will be for quality themes, pre-made sites, special modules. etc. Given the shops contain goods (not services), we can use product rating to keep the quality up.
-- the directory will contain pre-screened drupal provider information
-- the matching service will help the buyers narrow down their selections, matching can be based on type of work, pricing, geographical location etc., the buyers will then make their own decisions base on what they see from the provider profiles.
-- if the project is large, the buyer may also choose to use an account manager without going thru the matching process .
-- the market place will also provide services to the associates (i.e. the drupal service provider), some will be paid services. as those paid services will be tailored for drupal providers and shared among many associates, so the associates should enjoy a lower price compare if they would do it as one off arrangement.
Not sure how people feel about the shops concept, I think there are a lot of people who are willing to pay some to get a quality theme but can't afford to pay full price for a custom made one. Same for modules, there might be more incentive for companies to build quality modules that sell for $30-40 where customer can receive on going support for each drupal releases.
Thoughts?
Jenny
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Drupal marketplace.jpeg | 39.25 KB |
Comments
any takers?
I'm itching to put a system together to get this started, I think the following parts are relatively achievable (see my initial attachment):
Shops: (themes, modules, distros)
consider the followings acceptance criteria:
Events (link to shop for selling tickets)
Providers directory
Associate services
I will propose the following two steps to get this realized:
form a small committee to produce a proposal of: high-level site structure design, hosting considerations, marketplace operations and commission structure back to the drupal
identify volunteers or do a small fund raising to implement the proposal.
I volunteer myself to be committee member #1 :-)
IRC?
Eek, as the treasurer of the local playgroup, nothing de-spires me more than a committee!!
But since I'm hanging out to see a functional spec, I will try and help with technical input. I prefer IRC meetings that aren't at 4AM ;-)
no problem
we will use this place http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html to find a convenient time for everyone.
ok
Cool. Then for later reference, I am in Melbourne, Aust.
Count me on :)
Great piece of enterprise and organization moderated by Jenny and the right set of contributions by everyone inlcuding SIME have now outlined the path to take including the tasks to focus on in order to achieve the Marketplace Task. The Polls for choosing the Domain name of the Marketplace are on now.
This intention was the basis of this discussion, the community gets involved and comes up with an appropriate solution that provides it the opportunity to raise the business acceptance as of Drupal and bring it into global Commercial Grade CMS/KMS. In order to do that we indeed need what has been outlined here. Remember, such strong apps are not only required by the Business world but by all other sectors utilizing the Internet for achieving their information, knowledge, business and governance needs.
Remember we are not depending on one person here, it is a collective and we want everybody to jump in and come up with something! What, nothing to contribute? Now, that ain't the style or practice of Druplers and Drupex guys! It's time all of you put in something of what you know and at the end of the day, this is to benefit everyone, means to complement the efforts of the Drupal, its community and its contributors. Your expertise will not only provide the opportunity to explore how well organized and workflow oriented all this can be, it will also show that you have lived up to your expertise in the right manner for the right set of objectives.
Giving an opportunity for everyone to showcase their Drupal expertise to the world is something to really place all the efforts in! I have always loved the concept of sharing and doing together, it has always helped me and my communities of learning and practice grow. This community will be much more, it has a much broad vision and a set of objectives that sets it apart from others as it compliments not only Drupal, it compliments and builds upon the Drupal Ecosystem! Let's just do it now!
Regards
Fouad Riaz Bajwa
Regards
Fouad Bajwa
Drupalar
http://internetsgovernance.blogspot.com
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/fouadbajwa