18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

MISSION AND PURPOSE:

The mission of .chat is to provide the e-commerce industry with a designated and differentiated internet destination where customer queries & interactions can be handled in real time in order to improve customer experience.

The ecommerce industry is booming - a recently released J.P. Morgan report (^1) estimated that the global e-commerce revenues would touch $680 billion in 2011, up by 18.9% from the previous year record. The retail ecommerce market in the US alone is expected to grow by 13.2% to $187 billion. An increasing number of businesses are seeing the opportunity that the internet presents, and are offering customers the ability to buy everything they need through just a few clicks. With the potential revenue that web-stores are capable of generating, online retailers are investing heavily in ensuring that they can provide their visitors with a superior customer experience on the web.

The core advantage of the internet as compared to all other electronic media is the interactivity and the real time response and feedback that can be received. An e-store can thus very well replace a physical store by offering customers a similar experience. To add the much needed personal touch, customers need the ability to interact with representatives of the company in real time – to have their questions answered and to help them make purchase decisions. Thus, the need for the ability to ‘chat’ with someone and get real time, live responses and assistance.

While many ecommerce sites today have a customer service section, they do not have a designated URL that customers can directly go to when they have questions that they need answered. A user has to drill down through the various sections on the website or click through some links before being able to talk to and interact with a representative.
With a .chat TLD, businesses will be able to setup their live support and customer service at ‘businessname.chat’ and customers will know exactly where to go when they want to talk to someone from that particular business.

The word ‘chat’ is universally understood and across the internet it means just one thing - the ability to talk to someone in real time. It thus very clearly differentiates itself from the other TLDs and represents a direct destination on the internet that can be used to interact with representatives of a company that is online.

An article referencing Forrester Research Inc. showed that 28% retailers already offered the ability for visitors to start a chat session with their representatives, while another 27% intended to add a web chat option within the year (2010)(^2) - reinstating the fact that the usage of online chat is growing in popularity.

Research and Case Studies on the impact of live chat usage across the industry, showed interviewees agreeing that offering a chat service had a positive impact on their business by either reducing shopping cart abandonment rates, increasing sales conversions, increasing the average order revenue or reducing costs.

The growing importance of the chat channel in the ecommerce space is evident with the number of businesses that have already deployed and that are looking at adding chat support to their web stores. The purpose of the .chat TLD is thus to give these businesses the opportunity to setup their outward facing communication portal, that will allow real time interaction, at a designated web destination such as ʹbusinessname.chatʹ.

The .Chat Registry also aims to:

* Enhance Registrant Choice

To create a namespace that provides registrants greater choice to represent themselves online in the manner they please. Due to the saturated nature of the existing gTLD space, many Internet users have to opt for a name that does not suit their needs best. Our Registry will provide Registrants a higher probability of obtaining their desired name.

* Create a cleaner Internet Space

It is our aim to create a cleaner internet experience for end users by implementing pioneering registration policies, content and usage policies, and abuse mitigation processes.

* Create a Stable and Resilient Internet Space

We aim to deliver a stable and resilient internet experience to registrants and end-users by going above and beyond the ICANN mandated SLAs and delivering 100% resolution uptime.

References:

* (^1) http:⁄⁄techcrunch.com⁄2011⁄01⁄03⁄j-p-morgan-global-e-commerce-revenue-to-grow-by-19-percent-in-2011-to-680b⁄

* (^2) http:⁄⁄www.cnbc.com⁄id⁄38169197⁄Higher_E_Commerce_Sales_May_Be_Only_a_Click_Away

This completes our answer to Q18(a).

Similar gTLD applications: (0)