Walgreens snaps up generic domain names in fresh TLDs
$67 billion pharmacy chain going following relevant terms in fresh TLDs.
While I was going through .wiki registrations this morning I noticed that pharmacy chain Walgreens registered a number of generic terms under .wiki.
It makes sense: why not own Haircare.wiki, Scooters.wiki and Prescriptions.wiki so they can control the conversation, not the other way around.
When I started digging in I found that this wasn’t just a play on .wiki. Walgreens has been registering regarding a dozen terms in certain top level domain names:
- Liftchair(s)
- Prescription(s)
- HomeMedical
- Scooters
- Cosmetics
- Haircare
- ContactLenses
- Contacts
- Skincare
- Well (it has a brand around “well”, so this isn’t really generic to them)
It has registered these domains across .guru, .expert, .today, .zone, .cheap, .link…basically anywhere they make sense or are tied to a generic domain.
They haven’t gotten all of them, of course. Some people beat them to the registration queue or the domains were reserved. Interestingly, the firm has skipped a couple that are available at regular prices such as LiftChairs.expert (it registered the singular version) and HomeMedical.expert.
It’s interesting to see a major firm try to corner the second level of fresh TLDs for terms relevant to their business. It’s also worth noting that Walgreens didn’t apply for any fresh top level domain names.
