China: Domain Market's Newest Target

August 2, 2006; 09:24 AM
Los Angeles, CA, USA - China is one of the countries today that has not been swept by domain industry and E-commerce. Although China holds the title for the second largest Internet region, it is still in the developing phase when it comes to online business. Statistics say that most people in China are using Internet not for buying products or availing any online services. Instead, they use the Internet, mostly, for education and information purposes only. In fact, a relatively one percent of the Internet group in China is purchasing products and services. Since China is relatively young in online business or E-commerce, people like Tim Schumacher, CEO of Sedo, is eyeing for the huge market in China.

As far as ages and periods are concerned, most countries today are in the modern period when it comes to domain business. On other hand, China is the only one left in the middle ages. China is only on the point of opening its doors for the idea of domain registration, pay per click marketing, and affiliate programs. In other words, they are still a baby as opposed to the grown- ups in the domain industry. You cannot blame China, for most of them are not really E-commerce fanatics or online consumers.

The best thing about China as a developing nation to E-commerce is that the cost of domain and pay per click marketing is cheaper than those powerful countries, which are submerged in online business. People who would invest in China can earn more since they are going to be the proponents of the said booming industry in China.

According to Statistics, about eighty million Chinese internet users, are one of the targeted online users next to Canada and US. Every week, at least five percent is added to the 80 million users in China. With this continued growth, China may even become the number one in online business. Since China opens a lot of opportunities for E-commerce, investors are really interested in investing in the said country. On one hand, Lu Benfu, Director of the Internet Development Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has a different opinion. For him, China having the second largest number of internet users, does not mean that online business will flourish in the country. Based on his research, Chinese internet users are just net surfers. The age group for internet users, which is 16-34 years old is not the leading E-commerce consumers. There's also a geographical explanation as to why E-commerce, along with domain market, will not succeed. The reason is that most cities in China are urban in nature and locals are scattered everywhere. Such reasons cause a big hindrance to the development of online business. E-commerce expands quickly when major cities and states are involved.

Another point raised by Lu Benfu why it's not possible to have a domain market growth in China is the unproportional number of websites compared to its users. There's a lot of users as opposed to the websites. But there is still hope for China, since a lot of its people are into *search engines* and mobile phone sites.

Domain registration is becoming a hit in China since China Internet Network Information Center was established in June 1997. As early as May 21, 1994 China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has been providing domain name registration. Basically, the role of China Internet Network Information Center is to manage and oversee what's going on in E-commerce industry and domains related to China like .cn domain. Today, many Chinese companies are giving web hosting services as well as domain name registration. HiChina Web Solutions Limited is the top provider for domain name registration as exemplified by the fact that it serve at least one fourth of China's website.

The issue on China as the newest market for domain industry came as no surprise since China has always been a country that is pleasant to negotiate with. In fact, Chinese people have always been considered as good businessmen. They often thrive in whatever business venture they take since they are practically good at it. Personally, I think that China will eventually become the hottest domain industry market in the next five years or so. For now, it's better for Chinese to open up a lot of websites and to have domain name registration, in order for China to exhaust the world of E-commerce. For those who are interested in planting their seeds of fortune in China's soil, I suggest that they should be patient and learn to wait. For, it is definitely worth your money and time to invest in China's domain industry.

For more valuable information on domain registration, affiliate program (s) and pay per click marketing, please visit http://www.businessanalyst.com.

Patrick Connor, 818-980-6556, www.businessanalyst.com