.Shop Sunrise Closed With 1,182 Domains (etsy .shop, walmart .shop, facebook .shop)

GMO Registry announced that new top level domain, .shop (http://get.shop) opened its doors to the general public for the first time today in a special advance registration Early Access Program. The .shop Early Access Program runs from September 1, to September 26. .Shop domains start at $30,000 on day 1 of the Early Access Program and prices reduce every few days.

GMO had its first .Shop domain name auction in the Chinese market and you can see the results here.

Earlier this week, the .shop Sunrise, a phase open exclusively to trademark holders, closed with 1,182 applications, making it one of the most successful new top level domain Sunrises to date (source: https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/reviews/cct/rpm ). Some of the world’s biggest ecommerce and retail brands were registered during the Sunrise phase, with applications for names including etsy.shop, walmart.shop, gucci.shop, samsung.shop, uber.shop, and facebook.shop.

At the same time, this week GMO Registry introduced the first of the .shop pioneers, ecommerce software provider, ePages. .shop pioneers are companies who recognize the value of a .shop domain and will be among the first to setup shop in the .shop namespace. ePages, the international cloud-driven ecommerce software provider is assigning ePages.shop to its blog for retail news, resources and advice.

GMO Registry CEO, Hiro Tsukahara, said “We are proud to have ecommerce industry leaders pioneering the .shop domain space and are excited to work together to define and grow the .shop brand.”

Richard Stevenson, Head of Corporate Communications for ePages, comments, “It is both pleasing and opportune to be a pioneer for the exciting new .shop domain. The wider aspects of online identity that nTLDs can deliver are liberating, and .shop offers all those across the diverse world of ecommerce a boost to visibility, branding and relevance. ePages.shop is the ideal identity for our educative and popular blog for online merchants”.

.Shop registry expects to reach 1 million domain registrations within the first year.

For details on how to participate in the .shop Early Access Program or to find a .shop accredited registrar please visit http://get.shop.

GMO Registry acquired .shop in a $41.5 million ICANN auction in January 2016.