.shop is a generic

top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domain name, domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the DNS root zone, root zone of the nam ...

(gTLD) launched in September 2016. Nine companies including

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and Famous Four Media filed applications for .shop in the 2012

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several dat ...

new gTLD application round. GMO Registry became the registry operator after prevailing in an ICANN public auction in January 2016.

History

The idea of a .shop

generic top-level domain Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet. A top-level domain is the last level of ev ...

was around since at least 1999, when an attempt to register it with

IAHC Prior to the globalization of the Internet, its assignment of domain names was administered within the research and academic communities through the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). As the Internet grew to a global service, in the 199 ...

was made. Its proposed usage is similar to current endeavors: to provide a dedicated space for ecommerce on the Internet. In 2000, Commercial Connect, LLC requested to operate a .shop registry from ICANN. Commercial Connect's application from 2000 was well-received, but other domains were prioritized. Japan's

GMO Registry is an Internet company which is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is also the holding company of GMO Internet Group. The head office is located in Cerulean Tower in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its founder, Masatoshi Kumagai, ...

also expressed interest in the top level domain name space in late 2009, though Commercial Connect was the most vested candidate that had taken prior steps towards attaining delegation. In 2011, Commercial Connect was reported to have the support of

ecommerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile comm ...

companies, with its completed application awaiting final approval as of June 2010. To further this support, Richard E. Last of the

National Retail Federation The National Retail Federation (NRF) is the world's largest retail trade association. Its members include department stores, catalog, Internet, and independent retailers, restaurants, grocery stores, multi-level marketing companies and vendors. ...

and shop.org joined the board in late 2011. When the next application process was opened in early 2012, Commercial Connect founder Jeffrey Smith described his .shop as a "hybrid between general public and specific use" designed to make a "more secure, stable, and intuitive" Internet. He sees the domain as a way to easily indicate sites that use

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

sales, with the application supported by a community defined by entities that use credit card transactions to sell products. In May 2012, nine applicants including

and Famous Four Media applied to ICANN to operate the .shop registry. Commercial Connect was the only applicant who also applied for the .shop string in ICANN's year 2000 new-TLD round. Applications were also received for the extensions ''.shopping'', ''.store'', ''.buy'', and names with similar meanings in non-

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

languages, and ICANN indicated that they would not create extensions that will confuse users. This so-called "

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

similarity" is an unresolved issue in the new gTLD process, and is to complement dispute resolution. In January 2016, GMO Registry of Japan prevailed with a winning bid of US$41.5 million.

References

External links

ICANN

.shop
on ICANNWiki
GMO Registry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shop Generic top-level domains