Overstock.com: “We have become O.CO”
“During the initial introduction period, consumers who shop O.CO will receive free shipping on their entire order.”
Now I just typed in O.co into the browser and although the domain redirected to Overstock.com the site now reads:
“Welcome to O.co, also known as Overstock.com”
That’s big
“Over the eleven years we’ve been in business we’ve evolved into a savings engine for shoppers.”
We have become O.CO,” said Overstock.com Chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne.” said in the press release.
“As a lifestyle destination, consumers can find absolutely anything on O.CO whether they are shopping for furniture, bedding, clothing, and jewelry, buying a car or home, and, soon, looking for their next vacation spot.”
“Overstock’s purchase of O.CO prior to the domain’s public launch was an investment in its future and it speaks to the confidence that Overstock’s executives had in the credibility and marketability of the .CO domain,” said Juan Diego Calle, CEO of .CO Internet. “Overstock’s early confidence in the .CO domain helped to inspire a lot of interest and excitement for the launch, and has contributed to the more than 600,000 .CO domain names that have been registered by people in 200 countries.”
Certainly good news for .Co domain holders that a major multinational brand has embraced the .Co extension.
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@TBC
Are you making a comparison or just stating a fact?
There are actually some decent sites out there.
I dont know if who buys into the Alexa ranking but some of them have made it well into the top 100k. I think the best one I saw was into the top 20k.
That is pretty good if you put any stock into that kind of thing.
Cheers
@TBC
.tv has been around for 4 years or more, I believe. Can’t really compare it to .co. Although i think .tv is on it’s way as well.
@Slate
I agree, there are some decent sites and so many of them are small/startup companies who don’t own the .com Funny thing is I found such .CO websites in pretty much all countries
A good move from Overstock.
O.co can litterally mean “The O Company”.
Of course, investing that way in a new TLD is always risky, but I think Juan Calle and the .co registry proved to the world they were extremely reliable and determined.
This is indeed great news for the .co extension, and many naysayers are probably very angry.
167,000,000 .co after ~6-7 months vs 532,000,000 .tv after ~5 years is a very positive sign.
It shows that people are developing the sites.
People are very positive about .tv in and of itself, too.
Let me know when they change their name to eBay or Amazon.
Let me know when they change their name to eBay or Amazon.
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LOL. Agree.
Haven’t ever spent a dime with Overstock.com, myself.
New O.CO commercial Link
http://domainnamewire.com/2011/01/20/overstock-com-releases-new-o-co-tv-commercials/
OMG!
This kicks ass!
Did anyone see the Valentine commercial?
http://youtu.be/J3pjKXE8yao
Just curious.
Thought it was cool
Cheers
Is it a coincidence that the highest profile .co domain so far is a single character domain? I don’t think so.
Very few of the comments focus on the fact that O.co is one of only 25 .co domains where there isn’t (and can’t be) a corresponding .com domain.
These are the single character .co domains (x.com is taken), of which O.co is one.
My take on O.co isn’t that it validates the .co extension. I think it means that .co has 25 domains where it has a competitive edge over .com. This is because .co is willing to offer single letter domains while so far .com isn’t. And Overstock was smart (?) enough to acquire one of these domains. (I’m ignoring number domains in this discussion.)
If you own a .co domain that isn’t a single letter .co domain, then you own a domain that is a poor second cousin to the .com.
.co can’t establish a separate identity because it is so close to .com. In my view, .co is worse than any of the other novelty extensions (.ly, .me, .vc, .cc etc) because it is so easily confused with .com.
This ease of confusion is what is on the mind of the UDRP panelist in the recent pokerstrategy.co decision ordering the transfer of the domain. Many people were attracted to .co domains simply because the .co domain acts as a typo for the corresponding .com domain.
I don’t see .co breaking free and establishing itself as a stand-alone extension. The marketing blitz for .co has been impressive, but .co is at heart a variation on .com. O.co is one of 25 exceptions.
@passing by
You think .CO might be seen as a “poor second cousin to the .com” because the masses aren’t aware of its existence. But the importance of the O.co is just this: everyday it will let hundreds of thousands of people visiting their site and millions watching their TV commercials know that .CO exists. Once the general public gets used to the extension, they will no longer make any confusion.
Passing
Its a poor second cousin.
There is no doubt that a one letter .com would be a huge price and certainly as we sit a one letter .co is a runner up, but what’s wrong with that.
Once again the domain world isn’t a zero sum game where someone gain has to come as another’s loss.
An extension like .Co can have value and buying some domains can be a good investment separate and and apart from the value of .com’s
Moreover I would expect if allowed, a .com one letter domains is going to sell in the mid five seven figures or higher still making a one letter .co well worth $350K
What’s the lesson to draw from Overstock’s branding on O.co?
Some comments are drawing the conclusion that this validates the .co extension.
I think that’s a mistake.
One example does not validate an entire .co extension. Especially when the one example is one of only 25 domains in the .co extension that doesn’t suffer the possibly fatal flaw of having a matching .com domain available.
Show me a big company choosing to brand on a .co domain where the .com domain is available, and I’ll put more weight on .co being a valid extension. That the highest profile use of a .co, O.co, is a rare example where the .com version of the domain does not exist, I see as further evidence that the .co extension can’t stand on its own.
I’m concerned for all those people using O.co to justify investment in other .co domains. O.co is a special case. It doesn’t mean that because Overstock found value in O.co, that other companies will perceive the same value in your more run-of-the-mill .co domains.
It is no accident that most of the buzz around .co, and the focus of their promotional push, is on the single letter domains: e.co, o.co and i.co.
To overstate the point, one could say that .co is an extension with 25 valuable domains.
As MHB says, this isn’t a zero-sum game. There is always room for novelty uses of non-.com extensions.
But bit.ly doesn’t validate the .ly extension, about.me doesn’t validate the .me extension, last.fm doesn’t validate the .fm extension, bu.mp doesn’t validate the .mp extension, and O.co doesn’t validate the .co extension.
@passing by
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Show me a big company choosing to brand on a .co domain where the .com domain is available
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You would basically want .CO to be already, after just 6 months since the public launch, that big to overtake .com?