STORES Magazine - January 2009 - (Page 55)

domain names – and, in some cases, a knock on the door of a domain holder to see if a sale is a possibility. Johnston works out of Sedo’s Cambridge, Mass., headquarters, “which covers half the world.” The company has another headquarters in Cologne, Germany, covering “the rest of the world,” and offers customer support in 20 languages. To increase his e-commerce traffic, Riewe had to think like an online flower shopper. If a customer is looking for a wreath from a florist near Fort Worth, odds are the customer is plugging “flower” or “florist” and “Fort Worth” into a search engine. This might bring up fortworthflowers.com, a domain owned by Riewe. When you click the link, it seamlessly redirects you to bices.com, the store’s main website. Riewe estimates that he now owns more than 20 domain names. “The other day a lady in Switzerland called us,” he says. “She has someone living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and located us on the Internet. “We are capturing orders from Ireland, China and Australia. It’s crazy,” though most of the florist’s orders still come from Dallas/Fort Worth. Benefits of a trademark The local competition isn’t what keeps Riewe up at night: “I’m more concerned about FTD, 1-800-FLOWERS and WWW.STORES.ORG Having multiple domain names “levels the playing field” for smaller operators like Bice’s fit of this, similar to using a search engine like Yahoo! or Google. “Generic domains send traffic to websites every day without extra costs, which is a significant savings, especially for smaller businesses.” Defensive strategy Johnston recommends obtaining variations on a company’s name because web shoppers often mistype. If a business name ends in “s,” for instance, it makes good sense to also purchase the domain name without the “s.” Some businesses want to gather domain names for defensive purposes, in case someone tries to exploit the business. Securing hundreds of domain names is becoming a common strategy for large companies, Johnston says. “Calvin Klein has underwear.com, bras.com; Barnes and Noble has books.com. A one-word descriptive can be very valuable as a domain.” Online browsers are akin to walk-in traffic at a bricks-and-mortar store, Johnston says. “We want to make it easier for businesses large and small to search for domains [and] get the domains they want as affordably as possible.” Riewe, he says, “sees the long-term value [that] domains can have for his business. He is using his imagination to collect a portfolio of descriptive domains, which is like bringing people to StORES your business’ doorstep.” STORES / JANUARY 2009 55 Teleflora, the ones with the advertising dollars,” he says. Having multiple domain names, he says, “levels the playing field” for smaller operators like Bice’s. When building an e-commerce profile and presence, businesses should cover their bases by seeking domains for the company name “and the subject matter of your business,” Johnston says. As a trademark attorney, he observes that one of the limitations of a trademark is the fact that generic terms cannot be trademarked. “If you’re a florist, you can’t just name your business ‘florist’,” he says. “However, you can get domains that match descriptive terms of your business. “It’s almost as if you’re getting the benefit of having a trademark without worrying about the legal issues, so it’s very cost-effective,” Johnston says. The catalyst for Sedo’s business is generic description domains, he says. “All the good [domain names] have natural traffic: People type in the generic domain expecting to find goods related to that subject,” Johnston says. “If you have that domain, you receive the bene- http://www.fortworthflowers.com http://www.bices.com http://www.underwear.com http://www.bras.com http://www.books.com http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - January 2009

STORES Magazine - Jauary 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Mechanical Marvel P&G Invests in Ocado Now I Remember What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Breaking the Monotony Multi-Channel Concept2Watch E-Commerce Analytics Category Management IT Systems In-Store Technology IT Systems Communications Website Strategy Communications SOA Energy Video Surveillance Employee Theft Online Fraud Industry Perspective Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword End Cap

STORES Magazine - January 2009

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