Britain’s fashion brands ‘fail to walk the digital catwalk’

With the world’s eyes on London Fashion Week, online interaction with some of Britain’s leading luxury clothing names will be at a peak. However, research conducted by global domain name marketplace, Sedo, has shown that some of the UK’s best loved fashion names have failed to secure ownership of their relevant web addresses, losing sight of their online reputation.

The research, which assessed the domain name portfolios of ten of Britain’s leading fashion brands exhibiting at the show, found that 42 per cent of the major extensions were not owned by the relevant companies surveyed.
This included domain names such as www.houseofholland.com, www.luella.co.uk, www.mulberry.net and www.viviennewestwood.biz, with sites like www.burberry.net looking for user login and passwords. However, some brands performed well, with the research finding that brands such as Julien MacDonald and Twenty8twelve owned all of the most relevant commercial extensions.
While certain British brands have been slow off the mark to acquire the right domains, other fashion houses from around the globe are not only looking to own web addresses relevant to their brand, but also secure those that feature relevant keywords to their industry.
Sedo’s research found that Calvin Klein owns www.bras.com and www.underwear.com, while www.jeans.net is owned by denim brand Brams Paris, putting both brands at the heart of their industries online.
Nora Nanayakkara, Director of Business Development of global domain name marketplace, Sedo comments, “As the country’s attention turns to the fashion industry, it makes sense for businesses involved in London Fashion Week to ensure they own the right domain names that will drive targeted, highly relevant traffic to their online presence. For an industry with a high percentage of young and digitally savvy consumers, domain names are more than just a tool to anchor a company’s digital presence on the web. They offer businesses an opportunity to grow their digital presence and expand the revenues they make in the digital arena.”
Nanayakkara continued, “Keyword domain names, such as underwear.com, offer brands additional benefits; not only do they help save money on search engine marketing by improving positions in search rankings, but they also help to position the brand as an authority and leader on a particular industry.”
Methodology
Ten leading UK brands involved with London Fashion Week were assessed to see which companies owned their respective brand name plus .com, .co.uk, .org, .net and .biz domain name extensions. The research also looked at ten keywords to see whether leading fashion brands owned relevant keyword domains.
www.sedo.co.uk
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