What domains do Chinese internet firms want to buy?
Kassey Lee looks at Chinse internet firm domain name preferences. Edit Edit date and time
You need to know your buyers if you want to sell your domains to China. Since internet firms lead the business world, it is worthwhile to study domains used by the best internet firms. This will enable you to draw a big picture of what corporate China wants in terms of domains.
In October this year, the Internet Society of China released ” 中国互联网企业综合实力研究报告” (Google Translate: Research Note on the Comprehensive Strength of Chinese Internet Firms). This note provides an excellent source to look at domain preferences of corporate China. I took the top 100 internet firms listed in the note and researched their domains. Here is the result.
| Rank | Chinese | English | Domain | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 阿里巴巴 | Alibaba | Alibaba.com | Owns 1688.com |
| 2 | 腾讯 | Tencent | Tencent.com | - |
| 3 | 美团 | Meituan | Meituan.com | - |
| 4 | 百度 | Baidu | Baidu.com | - |
| 5 | 京东 | Jing Dong | JD.com | - |
| 6 | 网易 | Netease | Netease.com | Owns 163.com |
| 7 | 拼多多 | Pin Duo Duo | Pinduoduo.com | PDD.com upgrade? |
| 8 | 滴滴 | Didi | DidiGlobal.com | Didi.com upgrade? |
| 9 | 字节跳动 | ByteDance | ByteDance.com | Owns TikTok.com |
| 10 | 腾讯音乐 | Tencent Music | TencentMusic.com | Owns QQ.com |
| 11 | 奇虎360 | 360 Total Security | 360.com | - |
| 12 | 新浪 | Sina | Sina.com | - |
| 13 | 58集团 | 58.com | 58.com | - |
| 14 | 苏宁 | Su Ning | Suning.com | - |
| 15 | 小米 | Xiao Mi | XiaoMi.com | Owns Mi.com |
| 16 | 用友 | Yonyou | Yonyou.com | Pinyin Yong You |
| 17 | 爱奇艺 | iQiYi | iQiYi.com | Owns iq.com |
| 18 | 搜狐 | Sohu | Sohu.com | Pinyin Sou Hu |
| 19 | 携程 | Ctrip | Ctrip.com | Owns Trip.com |
| 20 | 芒果TV | Mango TV | MGTV.com | Mango.com upgrade? |
| 21 | 斗鱼 | Dou Yu | Douyu.com | - |
| 22 | 车之家 | Autohome | Autohome.com | - |
| 23 | 趣头条 | Qu Tou Tiao | Qutoutiao.net | QTT.com upgrade? |
| 24 | 唯品会 | VIP Shop | VIPShop.com | Owns VIP.com |
| 25 | 央视网 | China Central Television | CCTV.com | - |
| 26 | 猎豹移动 | Cheetah Mobile | CheetahMobile.com | Cheetah.com upgrade? |
| 27 | 网宿 | Wang Su | Wangsu.com | - |
| 28 | 37网游 | 37 Games | 37.com | - |
| 29 | 同程 | LY.com | LY.com | - |
| 30 | YY (华多, 欢聚) | YY | YY.com | - |
| 31 | 世纪华通 | Century Huatong | SJhuatong.com | SJHT.com upgrade? |
| 32 | 四三九九 | 4399 | 4399.com | - |
| 33 | 人民网 | People.cn | People.cn | People.com upgrade? |
| 34 | 咪咕 | Migu | Migu.cn | Migu.com upgrade? |
| 35 | 小红书 | Xiao Hong Shu | Xiaohongshu.com | XHS.com upgrade? |
| 36 | 浪潮 | Inspur | Inspur.com | - |
| 37 | 科大讯飞 | iFlyTek | iFlyTek.com | - |
| 38 | 龙采 | Long Cai | Longcai.com | - |
| 39 | 连尚 | LinkSure | Wifi.com | Acquire LinkSure.com? |
| 40 | 东方财富 | Eastmoney.com | Eastmoney.com | - |
| 41 | 拉卡拉 | La Ka La | Lakala.com | - |
| 42 | 新华网 | Xinhua Net | Xinhuanet.com | - |
| 43 | 巨人网络 | Giant Network | Ga-me.com | Giant.com upgrade? |
| 44 | 多益 | Duo Yi | Duoyi.com | - |
| 45 | 六间房 | 6Rooms | 6.cn | 6.com reserved? |
| 46 | 美图 | Mei Tu | Meitu.com | - |
| 47 | 贝壳 | Bei Ke | Ke.com | Acquire Beike.com? |
| 48 | 鹏博士 | Dr Peng | Drpeng.com.cn | Drpeng.com upgrade? |
| 49 | 东方网 | Eastday.com | Eastday.com | - |
| 50 | 钢银 | Banksteel.com | Banksteel.com | - |
| 51 | 梦网 | Montnets | Montnets.com | - |
| 52 | 智联招聘 (网聘) | Zhaopin.com | Zhaopin.com | Acquire Zhilian.com? |
| 53 | 米哈游 | Mi Ha You | Mihayou.com | - |
| 54 | 好未来 | Tal | 100tal.com | Tal.com upgrade? |
| 55 | 汇通达 | Hui Tong Da | HTD.cn | HTD.com upgrade? |
| 56 | 乐信 | Lexin | Lexin.com | - |
| 57 | 昆仑万维 | Kunlun | Kunlun.com | - |
| 58 | 运满满 (满帮) | Yun Man Man | YMM56.com | YMM.com upgrade? |
| 59 | 华云 | Hua Yun | Huayun.com | - |
| 60 | 去哪儿 (趣拿) | Qunar | Qunar.com | - |
| 61 | 前锦 | Qian Jin | 51job.com | QianJin.com upgrade? |
| 62 | 竞技 | JJ | JJ.cn | JJ.com upgrade? |
| 63 | 不锈钢电子交易 | exbxg.cn | exBXG.cn | BXG.com upgrade? |
| 64 | 蜜莱坞 (映客) | Mee Love | MeeLove.cn | MeeLove.com upgrade? |
| 65 | 二三四五 | 2345.com | 2345.com | - |
| 66 | 波克 | Boke | Boke.com | - |
| 67 | 边锋 | Bian Feng | Bianfeng.com | - |
| 68 | 网龙 | Net Dragon | NetDragon.com | - |
| 69 | 二六三 | 263 | Net263.com | 263.com upgrade? |
| 70 | 光环 | Sinnet | Sinnet.com.cn | Sinnet.com upgrade? |
| 71 | 迅雷 | Xun Lei | Xunlei.com | - |
| 72 | 世纪互联 | 21vianet.com | 21vianet.com | - |
| 73 | 点触 | Dian Chu | DianChu.com | - |
| 74 | 新中冠 | Xin Zhong Guan | XZGznkj.com | XZG.com upgrade? |
| 75 | 农信 | Nxin | Nxin.com | - |
| 76 | 积微 | Ji Wei | jWell56.com | JiWei.com upgrade? |
| 77 | 联动 | UMF | Umpay.com | UMF.com upgrade? |
| 78 | 汇付 | Hui Fu | Huifu.com | - |
| 79 | 房多多 | Fang Duo Duo | Fangdd.com | FDD.com upgrade? |
| 80 | 创蓝253 | 253 | 253.com | - |
| 81 | 创梦天地 | iDreamSky | iDreamSky.com | - |
| 82 | 探探 | Tan Tan | Tantanapp.com | Tantan.com upgrade? |
| 83 | 多点 | dMall | dMall.com | - |
| 84 | 荔支 | Li Zhi | Lizhi.fm | Lizhi.com upgrade? |
| 85 | 汇量 | Mobvista | Mobvista.com | - |
| 86 | 司机宝 (物易云通) | Si Ji Bao | SiJiBao.com | SJB.com upgrade? |
| 87 | 智通三千 (零浩) | ZT 3000 | ZT3000.com | |
| 88 | 东方明珠 | Oriental Pearl Group | OPG.cn | OPG.com upgrade? |
| 89 | 瓜子 | Gua Zi | Guazi.com | - |
| 90 | 搜房 (房天下) | Sou Fun | Soufun.com | Owns Fang.com |
| 91 | 得物 (识装) | De Wu | Dewu.com | - |
| 92 | 到家 | Dao Jia | Daojia.com | - |
| 93 | 白山 | Bai Shan | Baishan.com | - |
| 94 | 趣丸 | TT | 52tt.com | TT.com upgrade? |
| 95 | 驴妈妈 | Lv Ma Ma | Lvmama.com | LMM.com upgrade? |
| 96 | 吉比特 | G-bits | G-bits.com | - |
| 97 | 海看 | Hicon | iHicon.com | Hicon.com upgrade? |
| 98 | 世纪开元 | Shi Ji Kai Yuan | 36588.com.cn | SJKY.com upgrade? |
| 99 | 华坤道威 | Worken? | Worken.cn | Worken.com upgrade? |
| 100 | 易车网 | Yi Che | Yiche.com | - |
So, what do Chinese firms look for when buying domains?
- .com is the No. 1 choice. 86% of firms on the list prefer .com.
- Short is good. 97% of the domains are fewer than 10 letters, with the median being 6.
- Pinyin is the most popular (36%) but English-based domains are hot too (32%). Acronym domains take up 9%, followed by numeric domains at 8%.
Did you spot any selling opportunities when reading the list? One-third of the firms can benefit from upgrading to a better domain. If you own any of the better domains, then you are holding an asset that is very valuable.
If you zoom out and think regarding the big picture, this means there are still many opportunities to sell domains to corporate China as upgrades. Therefore, it pays to do end user research to uncover such opportunities.
