GMO Registry, Inc.

Dallas, Texas – September 26, 2016 – GMO Internet Group company, GMO Registry, Inc. announces that .shop, the new top level domain for ecommerce opens for general availability on September 26 at 15:00 UTC. The new domain is being launched at Retail’s Digital Summit 2016, presented by shop.org, the world's leading community for digital retail.  

.shop aims to become the global home of ecommerce. Just as there are cities and streets around the world that are synonymous with shopping, .shop aims to become the place to shop online.

Short, intuitive, memorable and broadly understood, Internet users will instantly identify a .shop website as a place to shop. Registration of .shop is open to all and there are many potential uses of the domain as .shop can be for anyone, anywhere with something to sell online or offline. It is a great choice for any kind of online businesses including digital content and ecommerce solutions providers as well as the growing B2B ecommerce market. A .shop domain name can also help offline retailers and service providers to be discoverable online. For corporations, short, memorable .shop domain names are a powerful marketing tool and can be used to distinguish their corporate website from their online shop and provide an enhanced user experience for their customers.

The global ecommerce market has expanded more than 20% year-over-year for the past 5 years (source: emarketer) and continues to grow, yet in most countries ecommerce penetration is still in the single digits. .shop is coming to market at a time when we are still at the dawn of ecommerce industry.

Over 5,000 trademark holders, ecommerce businesses, retailers and individuals have already registered .shop domain names in two separate advance registration periods. .shop was first opened exclusively to trademark holders on June 30, for a 60-day Sunrise phase during which applications were received from almost 1,200 trademark holders in more than 30 countries around the world. The .shop Early Access Program which began on September 1 runs to September 26, giving participants the opportunity for first pick from among the vast possibilities for intuitive and memorable domain names for online and offline shops.

“As the world’s leading digital community the shop.org is the perfect venue to launch .shop today” says GMO Registry CEO, Hiro Tsukahara. “With .shop we aim to contribute to the success of both online and offline businesses and to support and encourage innovation and development in ecommerce.”

For more information on .shop or to find a .shop accredited registrar please visit http://get.shop.

.shop at Retail's Digital Summit

Drop by the .shop booth (No. 2007) at Retail’s Digital Summit presented by shop.org on September 27 and 28. 

About .shop

.shop is a domain name for all online and offline shops. Short, intuitive, memorable and universally understood, Internet users will instantly identify a .shop website as a place to shop. The word “shop” is recognized and understood in many languages and cultures around the world, and with this broad appeal, .shop aims to become the global home of ecommerce.

About GMO Registry

GMO Registry is a domain registry services operator based in Tokyo, Japan. Established in 2009 with a vision to secure meaningful and trusted namespace for ecommerce, the company acquired .shop in a $41.5 million ICANN auction in January 2016.

Today GMO Registry operates more than 40 Top Level Domains including .tokyo and GeoTLDs representing major Japanese cities, while global brands including Canon and Hitachi have chosen GMO Registry as a technology partner to build exclusive branded namespaces under their own top level domain. 

About GMO Internet Group

GMO Internet Group is an Internet services industry leader, developing and operating Japan’s most widely used domain, hosting & cloud, ecommerce, security, and payment solutions. The Group also comprises the world’s largest online FX trading platform, as well as online advertising, Internet media, and mobile entertainment products. GMO Internet, Inc. (TSE: 9449) is publicly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.