In the wake of Amazon’s pending acquisition of Whole Foods, it looks like Amazon has been buying grocery related domain names. Using a DomainIQ monitor alert, I was able to detect a number of recent domain registrations made by Amazon, most likely spurred by the acquisition. Most of the new registrations I noticed are new gTLD domain names.
As you can see below, the names I noticed that were registered have AmazonGrocery or AmazonGroceries in them with different extensions. The company has owned AmazonGroceries.com and AmazonGrocery.com since 2006, according to DomainTools Whois History tool. Smartly, the .com domain names both forward to the grocery section of Amazon’s website.
Some of the domain names I noticed that Amazon registered in the past few days include:
- amazongroceries.biz
- amazongroceries.info
- amazongroceries.mobi
- amazongrocery.bar
- amazongrocery.biz
- amazongrocery.cafe
- amazongrocery.catering
- amazongrocery.cooking
- amazongrocery.delivery
- amazongrocery.kitchen
- amazongrocery.market
- amazongrocery.menu
- amazongrocery.mobi
- amazongrocery.org
- amazongrocery.recipes
- amazongrocery.restaurant
- amazongrocery.us
At the present time, the domain names I checked do not resolve. I wouldn’t be surprised if the company ends up forwarding them to its website at some point soon, although there likely isn’t traffic to any of them.
Amazon already owns a fairly large portfolio of new gTLD domain names related to its brand. For instance, I wrote about how it is using Amazon.BlackFriday as a forwarder to an internal Black Friday page.
I would assume this domain registration spree was defensive in nature, but it is interesting to see the company register all of these grocery related domain names.
Elliot You may find this interesting-they-Amazon- has also bought these names in the .cn China extension. China plans perhaps?
Amazon also went heavily into the .delivery extension and has those already directed to its site. The grocery play is very interesting to me as I’m eager to identify any business sea change before it becomes common knowledge.
It took a long time for the grocery delivery concept to get a foothold, but I believe it is going to be pervasive like electric vehicles, AI, and IoT will in another few years. We are using grocery delivery now and it is incredibly convenient. The service fits perfectly with many people’s lifestyles.
Not sure if my first comment went through but they are also buying these names in .cn re China
For information, the .GROCERY new gTLD, belonging to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is still in Transition to Delegation. Exciting, isn’t it?
This will be quite beneficial to Walmart as the competition heats up with Amazon. The Whole Foods acquisition shows how “all in” Amazon is. These new gtld’s, like .com before them, are potential open doors which can make a difference if properly utilized. An interesting fit for regional portals like Chicago.grocery.