A report from the CNNIC Partner Conference in Guangzhou.
Domain name marketplaces are making a lot of money from Chinese buyers these days (more on that later), and it makes sense for these companies to visit with their buyers.
After NamesCon, Tom Jennings and Barb Sher of SnapNames traveled to China to visit with customers. Director of Business Development for SnapNames Tom Jennings filed this report:
The business development team from SnapNames/Web.com, Barb Sher and Tom Jennings, are in Guangzhou, China for the annual CNNIC Partner Conference being held on January 19th-20th. The conference brings together some of China’s largest registrars, registries and internet companies such as Xinnet, HiChina, BizCn, 35 Technology, Yumi, Zodiac, EJEE, 22.cn, and their global partners such as SnapNames, Afilias, and Neustar.
The conference allows industry leaders from around the world to exchange ideas, best practices and forge new business relationships. The conference opened with a Keynote by CNNIC and MIIT (Ministry of Industry & Information Technology) offering their views on the domain industry in China, both stressing the importance of international cooperation moving forward. Additionally, various breakout sessions were offered including meetings for both domestic and overseas registrars to exchange ideas and foster growth and cooperation.
On Tuesday, January 19th the Chinese Government announced that their gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent in 2015. While this number represents the slowest GDP growth in China in the last 25 years, the overall sentiment at the conference remains bullish as it pertains to domains as we enter into the first quarter of 2016. Due to continued, increased penetration in the education of the Chinese marketplace around domain acquisition as well as the strong belief in domains as an alternative investment vehicle class to offset an uncertain Chinese stock market, we are hopeful that the strong buying we saw out of China to close 2015 will continue. To that point, CNNIC CEO Mr. XiaoDong Lee specifically noted the opportunity for great growth in China by noting that 1 in 5 people in Germany owns a domain, while in China that number in 2015 was only 1 in 46.
Steve says
Awesome news! It’s great to see that both regions are reaching out to each other. Now if only all of the auction/trading sites ran their sites bilingual. Trying to run google translate on a Chinese site turns it into a dogs breakfast most times.
When I get inquires from China I also try and respond in both English and simplified Chinese just out of respect for the person inquiring on the name. Google translate does help although it may not be 100%.
Joseph Peterson says
More dialogue and cross-fertilization is always a great thing.
Steve says
Yes, and while there will certainly be ups and downs with the market as with any market there appears to be huge room for growth. I thought I read the other day that 1 in 4 North American’s have a domain name while only 1 in 47 or so Asian’s have one. With all of the activity on short names at the moment it can only increase if and when say 1 in 20 or more Asian companies and individual’s realize the value of short and exact match names. The industry is still very green. 20 years to China is like a hiccup in time. They go for the long haul.
An asset class that is private, portable and global will always have value imho. Also short easy to type on mobile device names will also be useful even to individuals that want a website of their own. Contact me on xxx.xx is easy to type and say. Once you start getting into 5+ characters or digits to the left of the dot you start mistyping and possibly causing traffic accidents. 🙂
Short easy to type domains will save lives. 😉
I have honestly never had more inquiries for my short names. When I do a whois inquiry lookup on names at gdaddy all of the 4 llll.com’s are getting 40+ whois lookups per month. Some over 70+ lookups. While on average it used to be 10-20 lookups for the generic .coms this new interest is very noticeable.
And at least the Asian inquiries for names start at $1k, not the $50 bottom feeder offers from idiots on this side of the pond.
Cheers!! 2016 should be very interesting.
Joseph Peterson says
@Steve,
Definitely agree that huge potential exists for growth in the domain market worldwide. That includes China; but there’s even farther to go in India, Africa, the Middle East, Indonesia, and so forth.
Even in the USA, we haven’t reached the ceiling in terms of domain usage. I highly doubt 1 in 4 Americans owns a domain. Germans maybe, but not us. Right now I’m sitting in an airport. If I did an informal poll, my guess is only 1 in 20 people would be a domain registrant.
In the long run, the Chinese domain market should be quite strong and much more stable than it is these days. It’s mainly in the next year or 2 where I foresee trouble.
Part of the reason I’ve urged caution in this sector is that I’d like to see a healthy pace of growth. Bubbles get in the way of growth. When they pop, investors are demoralized and suspicious; and it can take the market years to recover. So I think it’s in our best interests to take a needle and prick these bubbles, letting off some of the pressure so that (when they pop) they fizzle out rather than burst catastrophically.
Steve says
Yes, it may have been 1 in 4 business’s in the US and not individuals.
Caution is always a good policy on all fronts but with the price of entry so low on some of these names it’s hard to sit on the sidelines.
Joseph Peterson says
Your slogan – “Short Domains Save Lives” – is ripe for a viral campaign. Where can we buy the T-shirt and bumper sticker?
Steve says
Ha, ha!
Every extension including big daddy .com is available for hand reg for but I am afraid if someone tried to type it in while driving or walking they may get hurt..
Cheers!
Vistaprint will knock a shirt off in a day. 🙂