The Domain Market Economy

By Duane J. Higgins, ceo
xtradot.com and tagline.tech

I have written extensively in this column regarding the relative prospects of the success of the (upwards) of 1000 new domain name extensions. Many new domain name extensions have been introduced and many more are yet to be introduced. We now have .buzz, .events, .guru and .loans and soon we will see .web, .shop and .app and many, many more.

Who will be the winners and losers of the new domain name extensions in the end?  Well the answer is that only the free markets of the market economy will decide. 

Here is a great definition of the "Free Market" from Wikipedia.org:


A free market is a market system in which the prices for goods and services are set freely by consent between sellers and consumers, in which the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government, price-setting monopoly, or other authority. A free market contrasts with a controlled market or regulated market, in which government intervenes in supply and demand through non-market methods such as laws creating barriers to market entry or directly setting prices.

Also regarding the "Market Economy" from Wikipedia.org:

A Market economy is an economy in which decisions regarding investment, production and distribution are based on supply and demand,^[1] and prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system.^[2] The major defining characteristic of a market economy is that decisions on investment and the allocation of producer goods are mainly made through markets.^[3] This is contrasted with a planned economy, where investment and production decisions are embodied in a plan of production.

Why do I take the time to post what are generally well known definitions of well known market dynamics?

The answer is that because the winners and losers of the new domain name extensions will be chosen just like any other free market venture. Through the free market economy.

In my previous column titled One Thousand Splinternets,  I speculated regarding an imaginary conversation taking place around the water cooler say 10 years from now. The point of the exercise was to demonstrate some of the inherent potential of  just a very few of the new 1000 domain name extensions that are flooding the marketplace as we speak.

From this column:


Imagine if you will the following conversation taking place between three friends at the water cooler in say 20 years from now:

Mary: I haven't heard anything from Steve in a while. Someone told me that he's spending all of his time on .web. You know, the Google owned Splinternet that offers free domain names and free websites. Apparently nearly everything is free there. Free and easy. Just like the 1960's. No wonder Steve likes it there. He never grew out of the sixties and I guess he met a girl on .web. I wouldn't take much of anything seriously that goes on there though.You get what you pay for right?
 
Joe:  I know what your saying. For me I've been using .secure for almost everything. With the encryptions and extra security measures that they take with all of the sites there. I've been thinking that I may just do everything there. That domain is growing so rapidly they say once you try it you wont use anything else.  However, I do use .bank for all of my banking and financial stuff. I do like that too. My wife likes .books, .music and .apps. I'm not really interested. However, they say the apps at .secure are like Fort Knox as far as security goes. So I use some of them.
 
Johnny: All I can say is thank God for .com. With all of these splinternets and new domain name extensions popping up like candy I think we could all go crazy if it weren't for the old standby .com. Dot com is still the standard bearer of everything that is on the Internet. Good, bad and indifferent. Dot com keeps taking these pot shots from the new domain extensions and keeps coming back stronger than ever. I'll take .com anyday and that is all that I need. I has everything that I need and everything that I don't need and sometimes sample if you know what I mean.
 
Mary: I'm with you on .com however I do have a confession to make. I probably spend 80% of my time on .shop. The way that they have integrated all of the shops and malls there the last I heard they had 100,000 stores and counting. Their top stores are apparently JC Penny and Best Buy. Who would have guessed that?  They also have this really  neat point system where you get points for buying at any shop there. The savings are unbelievable.  I heard on the news the other day that .shop was projected to overtake Amazon in overall sales by 2025. Wouldn't that be something. They have alot more than shopping as well. Just about anything related to it.
 
Joe: My nephew tried to get on the Chinese Splinternet just for the fun of it. Then he found out that it's all in Chinese and you need permission from the Chinese Government or or something like that. I guess its bigger than all of the other Internets added together. Too bad its so isolated.
 
Mary: Well back to work for me. Just between the three of us I may be taking a job with the .shop homeworker program. With their direct selling and network marketing programs, I earn points from everyone that I recruit as well. I can cash out the points for a discount and I am making more money there than I do here.
 
Johnny: Good for you Mary.
 
Joe: Maybe I can get a job with .secure.