Perspective on the $550,000 upgrade from 5i5j.com to ij.com — A Chinese
Here’s why this upgrade makes sense, but still isn’t perfect.
A few days ago, domain broker James Booth disclosed on Twitter the sale of ij.com for $550,000.
Another great name sold! https://t.co/kKyF8bhi7v gone to https://t.co/Fm3c9s3k6X for $550,000 USD. Congratulations to buyer and seller on another amazing upgrade!
— James Booth (@DomainBooth) November 2, 2019
5i5j.com was mentioned in the buyer party’s name. I was curious regarding the buyer, so I did some research on 5i5j.com.
Beijing-based Wo Ai Wo Jia (我爱我家 = I Love My Home) was founded in 2000 to help consumers buy, sell, or rent properties. It features 3300 outlets with 55,000 property specialists, covering major cities in China and overseas. In 2017, it successfully listed as A-share on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges (ticker symbol: 000560).
Wo Ai Wo Jia uses 5i5j.com as its corporate domain (官方 or literally meaning “official”). This domain is not easy to remember since it is not brand matching. A brand matching domain matches the brand name of a firm. For example, Tencent.com for Tencent, PinDuoDuo.com for Pin Duo Duo, or JD.com for Jing Dong. By the same token, the ideal corporate domain for Wo Ai Wo Jia would be WoAiWoJia.com or WAWJ.com.
The use of 5i5j.com is quite unusual. In the domain, “5” is used since it rhymes with “wo”. In other words, “5” sounds like “wo”. Similarly, “i” rhymes with “Ai”. “j” is the only letter which is an acronym for “jia”. Therefore, the domain 5i5j does not follow the usual rule in brand matching. As a result, it is not very easy to remember since some sort of translation has to be processed in the brain, even though some creative folks may think this is “cool”.
If ij.com turns out to be an upgrade from 5i5j.com, the brand name will become shorter: from 我爱我家 ( I Love My Home) to simply 爱家 ( Love Home). The upgrade in the brand is very good. Still, the same issue still remains. The ideal domain for the upgrade would be AJ.com.
Right now, both Woaiwojia.com and WAWJ.com do not resolve. If the firm has not secured these two domains, they ought to, even if only for brand protection.
