Which domain ?

[Deleted member 224913]

Heyy guys, been reading this forum for a few weeks now as my brother and I are starting up our own online fragrances shop. We have some experience and we know what sells so it`s not completely new to us.. we have been selling locally /ebay and some on amazon.

We will eventually sell abroad but think this will be a few years away in doing so, we want to establish ourselves in the UK first. We know its a competitive market but we really believe we can suceed with hard work and determination.

We have chosen a name and bought a few domains, a .co.uk and a .com. My question is which one should we use to market the company with as we are only going to be selling in the UK for the time being.

I think the .com? Be interesting to know what the pro`s think!

Thanks in advance!

 

[10032012]

.co.uk unless its a generic word, unlikely that you have only just registered it.

 

[newsvend]

For the UK market, .co.uk has the edge. Outside the UK, the .com has the edge.
Ideally you would have both the .co.uk and .com versions, and just redirect the .com to the .co.uk for the meantime, with the option to separate the sites in the future.

 

[Deleted member 224913]

thanks guys,
newsvend - yes i bought both domains .. thanks for the advice

 

[SuffolkDesigns]

As you have both, I don't think it really matters which one you use, just park the other domain on top and both will work.
Personally I prefer to use .com and park .co.uk on top of it.

 

[AyrshireBacon]

Doesn't matter, you can not post / carry these domestically by a Royal Mail nor internationally due to changes in DG regs, even ParcelForce no longer permits them either domestic or international as they used to when the cup flash point was above 70'ish degrees centigrade. So you might want to look at the fundamentals of your business plan guys...

In answer to the question though if you have / will resolve the issue is get both .co.uk in Sterling and .com in US Dollars, the geostats as well as a commonly recognised currency in your sales target territory is important.

 

[Deleted member 224913]

Doesn't matter, you can not post / carry these domestically by a Royal Mail nor internationally due to changes in DG regs, even ParcelForce no longer permits them either domestic or international as they used to when the cup flash point was above 70'ish degrees centigrade. So you might want to look at the fundamentals of your business plan guys...

In answer to the question though if you have / will resolve the issue is get both .co.uk in Sterling and .com in US Dollars, the geostats as well as a commonly recognised currency in your sales target territory is important.

Hello Ayrshire, I never thought thought there would have been a problem sending fragrances until you mentioned it. I have been reading on the royal mail website and have come across this :::

''Including eau de parfum, eau de toilette and alcohol-free perfumes, but excluding non-flammable perfumed creams, gels, oils or lotions.

Volume per item must not exceed 150ml. No more than four perfumes or aftershaves can be sent in any one package. The perfume or aftershave must be within its original retail packaging and then placed in strong outer packaging. The inner packagings must be packed, secured or cushioned to prevent breakage or leakage of their contents into the outer packaging.

An ID8000 label must be applied . The sender’s name and return address must be clearly visible on the outer packaging.''

 

[ukwebhosting]

Hi

For UK definitely .co.uk and park the .com to it with a redirect setup to the .co.uk until you are ready to do something with it.

Aside from a lot of reasons website visitors associate .co.uk more with a UK company than a .com

Paul

 

[AyrshireBacon]

Domestically, yes you are correct, there are limits but remember many destinations are served by air not road so at the counter they still refuse the package or send it by a specific surface route or method. Modern customers expect the Next style of service, order by 9pm and get it next day, which might be very difficult for you...

Internationally you just can not send by air. Visit the link below, go to the January 2013 update and then more information section a). This is a CAA imposed restriction so applies to all air carriers.

royalmail.com/ termschanges (URL expanded to bypass forum bot rules)

 

[MyBusinessStory.co.uk]

I disagree with most replies, you should go for the .com if you plan to go overseas in a few years.

I put a lot of working into a .co.uk for my UK business, however, my business grew and i was getting more and more USA sales and i set up office in Texas. i had to build a separate website for the USA customers which is a nightmare updating both with new content.

you don't want to get 3 years down the line and have an established website only to have to start all over again for USA,

least if your using the .com when you do decided to start selling in USA you are ready to go, just have a GEO locator on the website so your site recognises the IP address of your visitor and changes the currency automatically for them, they will think their shopping on a USA website and your UK customer will think their shopping on a UK site (which they will be of course)

 

[customlogoshop]

Go for the .com but have .co.uk also. I have my .co.uk redirect to the .com domain. Best to have both domains secured.

 

[LocalGuy]

I would go for the .co.uk as it will help in terms of ranking te the UK version of Google as well as giving people the trust that it is the UK company, then just redirect the .com to the .co.uk