CT: What are the opportunities and challenges for Indian domain name companies? How different it is from global markets?
Sodhi:The domains industry is growing at a rapid pace. In just one year, the number of domain names registered globally across all top-level domains (TLDs) grew by 18.5 million to reach 271 million at the end of 2013. As the culture of domain buying for personal and professional use gains traction in India, the domains industry is making significant progress. This is expected to intensify further, as the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) plans to release more domain name extensions every week through 2015. The domain name industry is in the process of expanding from 22 gTLDs, such as.com, .org and .net, to include more than 700 new domain extensions like .shiksha, .photography and .guru.
That being said, the domains industry in India is still nascent, with only 10 to 15 percent of the Indian population online at present. Looking at domain name penetration relative to the Internet population of a country, India stands at just about two percent in comparison to a more mature market like the U.S. (where domain name penetration is upwards of 20 percent), although we believe this is set to grow.
CT: Can you explain the top three trends in the Indian domain name industry?
Sodhi:First of all, in more developed countries such as the US, we see not only businesses, but also individuals buying domain names to build personal websites, create blogs, wedding registries and portfolios, etc. While this is not the case in India, currently, we do believe that the culture of domain name buying for personal use in India is slowly gaining traction. Secondly, unlike the west, India is a ‘Do-It-For-Me’ market where customers expect someone to find the right domain name and setup their web presence for them. And thirdly, it is widely believed that India is a price sensitive market. However, with affordable domain names available for as low as Rs. 99 a year, it is clear that India is a value-sensitive market. No matter how small the amount, business owners in India will only spend if they recognize the value it provides.
CT: How do players like GoDaddy create a niche in the domain market space?
Sodhi:GoDaddy is the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses. It is our mission to radically shift the global economy toward small businesses by empowering people to easily start, confidently grow and successfully run their own ventures. Having worked with small business owners around the world, we understand their unique needs and what they need to succeed.
Today, more and more customers want end-to-end solutions from their technology providers. GoDaddy offers its customers a complete suite of integrated Web solutions spanning domain registration, hosting, website building, marketing tools and aftermarket services. We also offer easy-to-use and intuitive design tools to help customers create a website with little to no technological experience.
If customers need further assistance, they also have access to our award-winning, 24/7 local customer care. Small business owners in India can call at any time and our experts will be there to help them through any step of the process. Lastly, we are working to create a robust partner and reseller ecosystem to help serve our potential customers better by making it as simple as possible for them to acquire the right domain name and establish a compelling online presence.
CT: Please elaborate on your partnership with Microsoft. What does this partnership mean for GoDaddy?
Sodhi:GoDaddy’s partnership with Microsoft will help us offer Office 365 to small businesses so that they get easy access to enterprise-grade tools that were traditionally available only to larger companies. Additionally, with Microsoft Office 365 from GoDaddy, small businesses will now have access to GoDaddy’s world-class 24/7 customer care, making it even easier to setup and manage their business’ account. In other words, small business customers get the convenience of owning a domain name, domain-based email address and access to Office 365 productivity solutions, all in one place.
CT:Who are your main competitors in India and how are you looking to gain an edge over competition?
Sodhi:As we have entered into the SME space, especially with the Office 365 productivity solutions which has helped us strengthen our foothold, our experience tells us that small businesses are increasingly adopting cloud solutions that help them to be at their most productive and stay connected to their customers so that they can better compete with larger businesses. A recent report by NASSCOM also shows how rapidly SMBs are adopting technology. The new partnership now allows business owners the flexibility to effectively run their business anywhere and from any device. Our biggest competition in India is the market itself. India has over 50 million small businesses with only 500,000 that have an online presence. With just over 10 percent Internet penetration, India presents a sizeable market. We think that there is enough for everyone and don’t really see competition.
In fact, we are always looking for ways to improve our products and solutions to make them relevant to our customers in India, and this partnership with Microsoft certainly has helped us to do that. As an increasing number of small business owners recognize the impetus that technology can provide to their businesses, we see great market potential for such solutions in the country.