100 and domain opportunities — Fortune China
Kassey Lee investigates which domains the top firms in China are using.
I believe domain investment based on real demand from end users is a solid investment. For this reason, I spend almost every day researching firms in China.
Fortune publishes a Fortune China 500 list annually in Chinese (an English version is apparently not available). Since of limited resources, I have chosen to focus on the top 100 only. These firms are worth studying since they are leaders of corporate China and, therefore, their domain preference will also influence others in the business world. Knowing what domains are sought following will help us sell domains to China.
Based on the 2019 list, I used Baidu to find the corporate websites of the top 100 firms, and then visited each site to determine their brand name and corporate domain. Below is the list of Fortune China 100 and their domains.
| Rank | English | Chinese | DomainName |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinopec | 中国石化 | Sinopec.com |
| 2 | PetroChina | 中国石油 | Petrochina.com.cn |
| 3 | China State Construction | 中国建筑 | CSCEC.com |
| 4 | Ping An | 中国平安 | Pingan.com |
| 5 | SAIC Motor | 上汽集团 | SAICMotor.com |
| 6 | ICBC | 工商银行 | ICBC.com.cn |
| 7 | China Railway | 中国中铁 | CRECG.com |
| 8 | China Mobile | 中国移动 | ChinaMobile.com |
| 9 | China Railway Construction | 中国铁建 | CRCC.cn |
| 10 | China Construction Bank | 中国建行 | CCB.com |
| 11 | China Life | 中国人寿 | e-ChinaLife.com |
| 12 | Agricultural Bank of China | 中国农行 | abchina.com |
| 13 | Bank of China | 中国银行 | BankofChina.com |
| 14 | People's Insurance Firm of China | 中国人保 | PICC.com |
| 15 | China Communications Construction | 中国交建 | ccccLtd.cn |
| 16 | Evergrande | 恒大集团 | EverGrande.com |
| 17 | JD.com, Inc | 京东 | JD.com |
| 18 | CITIC | 中信_x000D_ 中国中信 | CITIC.com |
| 19 | Country Garden | 碧桂园 | BGY.com.cn |
| 20 | China Telecom | 中国电信 | ChinaTelecom-h.com |
| 21 | Legend Holdings | 联想 | LegendHoldings.com.cn |
| 22 | China Pacific Insurance Firm | 太平洋保险 | CPIC.com.cn |
| 23 | Greenland Group | 绿地 | Greenlandsc.com |
| 24 | Alibaba | 阿里巴巴 | Alibaba.com |
| 25 | Sinopharm | 国药 | SinoPharm.com |
| 26 | HNA Group | 海航 | HNAgroup.com |
| 27 | Tencent | 腾讯 | Tencent.com |
| 28 | BaoSteel | 宝山钢铁 | BaoSteel.com |
| 29 | Wuchan Zhongda Group | 物产中大 | zjmi.com |
| 30 | Vanke | 万科 | Vanke.com |
| 31 | Power China | 中国电建 | PowerChina.cn |
| 32 | China Unicom | 中国联通 | ChinaUnicom.com |
| 33 | MCC Group | 中冶 | MCC.com.cn |
| 34 | C&D | 建发 | ChinaCnD.com |
| 35 | China Shenhua Energy | 中国神华 | ShenhuaChina.com |
| 36 | Midea | 美的 | Midea.com |
| 37 | Postal Savings Bank of China | 中国邮政储蓄银行 | PSBC.com |
| 38 | China Merchants Bank | 招商银行 | CMBchina.com |
| 39 | Suning | 苏宁 | Suning.com |
| 40 | Xiangyu | 象屿 | Xiangyu-Group.com |
| 41 | CNOOC | 中海油 | CNOOC.com.cn |
| 42 | China Energy Engineering Corporation | 中国能建 | ceec.net.cn |
| 43 | CRRC | 中国中车 | CRRC.cc |
| 44 | China National Building Material | 中国建材 | CNBMltd.com |
| 45 | Jiang Xi Copper Corporation | 江铜 | JXCC.com |
| 46 | Bank of Communications | 交通银行 | BankComm.com |
| 47 | ITG Group | 国贸 | ITG.com.cn |
| 48 | Gree | 格力 | Gree.com |
| 49 | Poly | 保利 | Polycn.com |
| 50 | Haier | 海尔 | Haier.com |
| 51 | Taiping | 太平 | cnTaiping.com |
| 52 | Chalco | 中国铝业 | Chalco.com.cn |
| 53 | Xiao Mi | 小米 | Mi.com |
| 54 | SPD Bank | 浦发 | SPDb.com.cn |
| 55 | Shanghai Construction Group | 上海建工 | SCG.com.cn |
| 56 | Huaneng Power International | 华能 | HPI.com.cn |
| 57 | China Grand Auto | 广汇 | ChinaGrandAuto.com |
| 58 | Yanzhou Coal Mining | 兖州煤业 | YanzhouCoal.com.cn |
| 59 | China Resources Pharmaceutical Group | 华润 | crPharm.com |
| 60 | Weichai | 潍柴 | Weichai.com |
| 61 | Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding | 上海医药 | SPHchina.com |
| 62 | Industrial Bank | 兴业银行 | CIB.com.cn |
| 63 | China Minsheng Bank | 民生银行 | CMBC.com.cn |
| 64 | Fresh China Life Insurance | 新华保险 | NewChinaLife.com |
| 65 | BAIC Motor | 北京汽车 | BaicMotor.com |
| 66 | WH Group | 万洲国际 | WH-Group.com |
| 67 | China Southern Airlines | 南航 | CSair.com |
| 68 | Air China | 国航 | AirChina.com |
| 69 | China Aviation Oil | 中国航油 | CAOSCO.com |
| 70 | BYD | 比亚迪 | BYD.com |
| 71 | Anhui Conch Group | 海螺 | ChinaConch.com |
| 72 | Sunac | 融创 | Sunac.com.cn |
| 73 | China Resources | 华润 | CRland.com.hk |
| 74 | HBIS Group | 河钢 | Hbisco.com |
| 75 | Cosco Shipping | 中远海运 | CoscoShipping.com |
| 76 | China Re Group | 中再 | ChinaRe.com.cn |
| 77 | Longfor | 龙湖 | Longfor.com |
| 78 | China Eastern Airlines | 东航 | CEair.com |
| 79 | TCL | TCL | TCL.com |
| 80 | China Everbright Bank | 光大银行 | CEBbank.com |
| 81 | Fosun | 复星 | Fosun.com |
| 82 | Zhongsheng | 中升 | zs-group.com.cn |
| 83 | Huarong | 华融 | chamc.com.cn |
| 84 | Cinda | 信达 | Cindamc.com |
| 85 | Geely | 吉利 | Geely.com |
| 86 | China Comservice | 中国通信服务 | Chinaccs.com.cn |
| 87 | Zijin Mining | 紫金 | ZijinMining.com |
| 88 | Kunlun | 昆仑 | Kunlun.com.hk |
| 89 | Ansteel | 鞍钢 | AnsteelGroup.com |
| 90 | DFAC | 东风 | DFAC.com |
| 91 | China Coal | 中煤 | ChinaCoal.com |
| 92 | Baidu | 百度 | Baidu.com |
| 93 | Shanghai Electric | 上海电气 | Shanghai-Electric.com |
| 94 | GWM | 长城汽车 | GWM-global.com |
| 95 | Boe Technology | 京东方 | Boe.com |
| 96 | Mysteel Group | 上海钢联 | MySteel.cn |
| 97 | China International Marine Containers | 中集 | CIMC.com |
| 98 | Datang | 大唐国际 | DTpower.com |
| 99 | China Agri | 中粮 | ChinaAgri.com |
| 100 | Rongsheng | 荣盛 | CNRSPC.com |
Let’s start by looking at the extensions used.
| Extension | 2019 |
|---|---|
| com | 72% |
| cn | 25% |
| Others | 3% |
.com is No. 1. China is somewhat unique in that .com is also used within the country for the domestic market. In other words, Chinese consumers accept both .com and .cn.
| .cn active? | 2019 |
|---|---|
| Yes | 37% |
| No | 63% |
The preference for .com is reflected in how the firms treat their matching .cn domain. A whopping 63% of them do not even have an active .cn site. For example, BankofChina .cn does not resolve and SAICMotor .cn is for sale.
| Language | 2019 |
|---|---|
| English | 44% |
| Acronym | 31% |
| Pinyin | 6% |
| Numeric | 0% |
| Mixed | 19% |
Surprisingly, English-based names are very popular. To tap into this opportunity, list your English-based domains at a marketplace that has retail partners in China. (I’m using the term “English” loosely. For example, Sinopec.com is considered English-based.)
| Acronym | 2019 |
|---|---|
| 2L | 1% |
| 3L | 9% |
| 4L | 13% |
| 5L | 4% |
| 6L | 2% |
| 7L | 2% |
While acronym domains up to 7 letters are found, maybe it’s prudent to invest up to 4L. Look at the Chinese column of the list and you’ll find most brand names with two or four characters. That means 2L and 4L in terms of acronyms.
| Length | 2019 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 7 |
Short is best. Chinese firms like short domains. The medium length of domains (excluding extension) is 7 characters only.
My biggest discovery in this exercise is the massive opportunity in selling domains to China as upgrades. 76 out of the 100 firms can benefit by upgrading to a better domain. Some examples are CSCEC .com (to CSC.com), SAICMotor .com (to SAIC.com), CRCC .cn (to CRC.com), and LegendHoldings .com.cn (to Legend.com). Granted, many of these domains are taken and used by other firms.
In short, you’ll be rewarded handsomely if you understand what domains are popular in China and then invest accordingly.
