If you’re Dutch, and you’re looking for a premium .nl-domain, chances are that you will receive fierce competition from foreign parties. What is causing this shift in the market?
.nl-domains are also popular across the border
At Domeinenbank.nl we are seeing an increase in foreign (non-Dutch) companies sending us inquiries to buy .nl-domains. Usually, this concerns abbreviations of their (company) name in 2, 3 of 4 characters. Also the exact match domain for the product they’re selling seems to be of interest to them. Most of the times, this .nl-domain is an addition to their portfolio, in which they will already have the .com-version or other premium variants from their own country. But why are they looking to add the .nl-version?
International companies are looking for all relevant domain extensions
When we ask these non-Dutch parties, we get a fairly simple answer; as a company with expansion plans, they think it is important to own all extensions of their brand, also in local markets. The Dutch still prefer spending money on websites that end in ‘.nl’. In a market that is becoming increasingly international, it is very understandable that companies are gathering all relevant domains with several premium extensions including the .nl-extension. Better to be safe, than sorry!
What does this mean for the Dutch buyer?
Simply put: there will be more competition for a select group of domains. If you’re trying to buy a popular .nl-domain, chances are you will miss out since there are simply more interested buyers out there than before. Especially if your domain has any possible relevance to non-Dutch companies. For instance – a simple first name in The Netherlands might very well also be a product name for an international company! Is your chosen domain still up for sale? Make sure to decide quickly – once a domain is sold to an end-user, the domain will probably be off the market forever: You will never have another shot at obtaining this domain. In the domain market, fear of missing out is real!
