7th January 2014
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
A former Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork has led calls for the region to begin steps to create its own unique internet domain in an effort to help local business and strengthen online branding.
Cllr Emmet O’Halloran (FG) who was originally behind the idea of International Cork Day believes that a .Cork domain name will allow local retailers who are selling online an opportunity to differentiate themselves from international competition by locally branding their websites.
“Online spend is currently running at €4bn per year with 75% of this going overseas. Generic .com or even .ie web addresses can make it difficult for local retailers who sell online to differentiate themselves from vendors in China, India and The UK. By following some regulatory controls local businesses will be able to customise their offering thus giving piece of mind, security to consumers which ultimately protects jobs in the local economy.”
It was announced earlier in 2013 that New York are to introduce a .NYC domain name in order to support local businesses and authorities in London and Paris have also submitted preliminary papers with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) who are the international body with responsibility for registering international domain names for their own online branding.
In concluding comments Cllr O’Halloran said that many people were skeptical when I first proposed the concept of International Cork Day but it ended up being worth millions to the local economy and charities. This isn’t about rolling out the usual “People’s Republic of Cork”cliche he said, it is a genuine effort aimed at supporting our retailers and rate payers.”
Notes:
The .co domain is already available. It is the national domain of Columbia.
