The .Shop Idea

The vision of  DotShop s to create a globally visible domain that embodies the different actors of the commercial community.

Commercial entiries are large and global. They range from small shops to global affiliate groups. The “.shop” domain can be naturally used by individuals, businesses, organisations as well as community groups, without constraining to a particular silo within the community, promoting a diverse and dynamic community within the “.shop” namespace. This matches well and is consistent with the multicultural and vibrant commercial world. 

While current gTLDs tend to focus on a vertical groups (e.g. network providers, organisations, museums, cooperatives, etc.) or regional groups within the global Internet, “.shop” will embrace a horizontal perspective with a clear brand to reach and enrich the broad global community.  Unlike ccTLDs also, which provides for a local audience, “.shop” will allow the user to express a community  relevance.

“Shop” is a highly recognisable word that is short, easy to remember, versatile but specific and focused on the business identity.  It captures the essence of the community served and is a sustainable phrase that will not easily become obsolete.  “Shop” is global, yet elicits a clear concept and coherence of the community, providing registrants tremendous value in establishing an Internet presence with global recognition and global significance.

“Shop” is also a word used in many languages. Even if it belongs to the anglophone world, the word "shop" is understood in the world for its mainly meaning. Some other languages used the word «shop» spelled in other scripts but still with the same pronunciation.  For this reason, the DotShop registry would like to be able to use IDN to offer the same string in other scripts.

The DotShop GbR aspires to bring together commercial entiries.  A dedicated domain can help cement a common identity that will be reinforced by the reinvestment of registry proceeds into programs runinng businesses for the development of less favoured regions in the world.  Further, the fact that the “shop” word and context in nearly ubiquitous will help cement this identity and strong visibility.