.CEO co-founder talks .luxury and new domain names on Bloomberg TV.
Monica Kirchner, co-founder and CEO of Dot Luxury, was on Bloomberg TV this week talking about .Luxury and new top level domain names in general.
It’s really hard talking about top level domain names to an audience that’s never even heard of ICANN, and I think she does a pretty good job.
Kirchner says the company has already sold over 1,200 domain names. Although small compared to other TLDs, the registry is charging $400 for post-sunrise domain name registrations. Registrars are marking this up to about $800/year. (This is for all domains, not just “premiums”.)
Kirchner also mentions a company that has rebranded to a .luxury domain name.
You can see the interview below after sitting through the pre-roll ad.
couponpages says
You’ve gotta give them credit for trying something different.
It’s like setting an arbitrary high opening price in real estate. Trump started this trend over 30 years ago, when he built Trump Tower and he charged millions for a relatively small apartment. Johnny Carson and a lot of big names bought and after a while, other people bought because they knew that only wealthy people could afford to be there.
In a nutshell, everyone knew that only truly wealthy people could afford to be there.
The problem here is that only domain insiders will know that the .Luxury brand is expensive and therefore more exclusive.
Therefore, the only way this strategy can pay off is if consumers pay attention to the fact that the only companies that use it are all truly premium brands.
Jared says
You’ll notice that both cartier.luxury and gucci.luxury don’t resolve to anything. Emirates.luxury forwards to their .com. Bloomberg interview and she couldn’t have had a few functional domains lined up to spread consumer awareness?The only way for any gtld to get actual traction is with development and usage. I appreciate any main stream press giving attention to the domain industry, but I’m going to go with better luck next time on this one.
Andrew Allemann says
Not specific to this example, but I do find it funny when new TLDs list “customers” like Amazon.com. Um, Amazon has defensively registered domains in basically all extensions.
Joseph Peterson says
@couponpages,
That Trump Tower example is useful, but mainly because it draws attention to the differences.
As expensive as .LUXURY is, it isn’t expensive enough to keep out the “rabble”. Any small company can afford $800 per year. That’s not to say they should pay it, but $800 annually is nothing beside a monthly apartment rental or commercial space.
.LUXURY’s price point occupies an awkward middle ground. It’s expensive enough to seem exorbitant. Yet it’s not lofty enough to be genuinely elitist. .LUXURY will never be as exclusive as Trump Tower or Monte Carlo. Any small business in the USA could plop down $67 per month for a .LUXURY sticker. Yet, since .LUXURY has no cachet of luxury about it, why would anybody pay above-average prices?
Consumers have already learned to recognize prestigious domains online. Instinctively, people respond to expensive .COM domains as though they had an air of prestige about them. The average person rummaging online has no concept of domain prices. So this gut reaction is simply a function of years of reinforced associations between premium domains and major brands. Something like Cars.com or Fly.com instantly seems exclusive, and that is related to market value (whether people realize it or not). But that’s REAL market value, as opposed to the inflated sticker prices of .LUXURY.