Lets compare .shop and others to .ca & .com (1.Viewing)

I was reading in another topic that @FM was going to do consulting work for .shop and the more I thought about it the more I had questions about the entire .shop TLD.

Now fortunately for .shop they have the entire world to market to but there are severe limitations that will keep it a modestly successful TLD at best...

For our purposes lets just compare it to .CA because we are based in Canada.

.CA can be used for ANY website in Canada and be instantly recognized as a Canadian based site whereas .shop can technically only be used for shopping sites. There are a lot of shopping sites right? Well lets break that down to the fact that a few dozen shopping sites like Amazon, Walmart, Canadian Tire, HomeDepot are generally cannibalizing the independent shopping sites and driving them out of business. No matter you may say because there are still a lot of shopping sites right?

Well what about the fact that and automotive repair garage can use .CA but technically .shop does not apply. So like .CA being limited to Canada .shop has basically limited itself to only online shopping stores which we all know is a shrinking market. When compared to an extension like .web or .pro the .shop extension is far more limited.

I guess you could also argue that extensions .web do also not apply to on the ground physical locations that have no real web presence and not everyone can be a .pro or a .top.

Yup that is right too, so the best choices are and probably will continue to be .com and each countries matching ccTLD.

Remember the great amalgamations in the car industry? The demise of Pontiac, Plymouth, Mercury etc? Did you read about the merger of Honda and Nissan?
Experience tells us that too many players will eventually lead to a collapse and in my opinion the newTLD industry is ripe for an adjustment that will probably see the failure of dozens if not hundreds of these new TLD's. The main concern being the ill informed end users who will first bear the brunt of astronomical price increases before the TLD's fail altogether.

There will be some stronger survivors but not before an awfully lot of money goes down the drain. Just think of .app as an example, what happens when they are no longer called apps? Technology changes so fast that entire industries will be wiped out in mere weeks. Can't happen to AI right? What happens when Artificial and Human thought patterns merge, what will we call it then? Will AI still be at the forefront?

Room for thought right?

When GTLDs become popular, .com and cctlds become more valuable.

I'm on a Facebook group and someone asked for our thoughts on a design for a billboard ad. In large, bold letters, the sign has 'www.' and the domain. I tell him it's redundant nowadays and just takes up precious space. I get three or four responses asking me how people are supposed to know it's a domain. It just hit me now. These registries need to get together and really push the www. Grandma thinks it's a printing error when someone emails her a link to knitting.club but knows it's a domain when it's www.knitting.club.

Nobody knows all the new TLD's, there are so many even I do a double take everytime I see a new one. That is why all the new TLD's need the www. so people understand it's an internet address.

On a .ca or .com even Grandma usually knows its a website address.

6 more gTLD's shown the door

Six more gTLDs shown the door, five may be auctioned - Domain Incite