Behind the listing of Nongfu Spring:"traditional" domain names need to be optimized!

On September 8, 2020, Nongfu Spring (09633.HK) officially debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It opened at HKD 38.3, a 78.14% increase, with a total market capitalization of HKD 445.29 billion.

Nongfu Spring's Financial Leap

Following this, the founder, Zhong Shanshan, saw his wealth surge to approximately CNY 429.5 billion, equivalent to USD 62.9 billion. This briefly surpassed the net worth of Tencent's founder, Ma Huateng, which was USD 56.8 billion, making Zhong Shanshan the "new richest" person in China.

Nongfu Spring burst onto the scene in 1996. Two years later, the slogan "Nongfu Spring, a little sweet" became the most successful advertising catchphrase of the year, overnight catapulting Nongfu Spring Natural Water to fame. Their advertising campaigns, emphasizing their role as nature's caretakers with slogans like "We don't produce water; we're just nature's porters," continually reinforced the superiority of their natural water.

With distinctive products and unique advertising creativity, Nongfu Spring has held the top position in the Chinese bottled drinking water market for eight consecutive years since 2012. In 2019, Nongfu Spring achieved a gross profit margin of 55.4% and a net profit margin of 20.6%, far exceeding the industry's average profit levels. Currently, Nongfu Spring's market value stands at HKD 391.588 billion.

Optimizing "Traditional" Domain Names

Nongfu Spring's official website currently uses the combination domain name nongfuspring.com. From a domain perspective, this name consists of a Pinyin abbreviation and a word combination. While "nongfu" corresponds to "farmer," and "spring" implies "springwater," it appears lengthy, complex, and not easily memorable in a combination of Chinese and English. This is not conducive to brand promotion and publicity.

However, perhaps Nongfu Spring itself recognized the drawbacks of its official website domain name. This year, they obtained registration for the four-syllable domain name nfsq.com.cn. Currently, visiting this domain name directly redirects to Nongfu Spring's official website. They have also protected "Nongfu Spring Barrel Water" with the domain name nfsqtzs.com.cn, which also redirects to the official website. Additionally, they have secured the product-related domain "Duo'er Capsules" with duoer.com.cn.

Compared to nongfuspring.com, the four-syllable domain name nfsq.com.cn is evidently more concise and directly related to the brand. However, the shorter .com extension domain name, nfsq.com, has not been developed into a website yet, leaving room for speculation about Nongfu Spring's intentions regarding it.

Furthermore, under the Nongfu Spring umbrella, the New Zealand company Creswell NZ Ltd officially acquired the bottled water factory "Otakiri Springs" in 2018, as part of its strategy to enter the high-end drinking water market. They have adopted otakirisprings.com as their official website domain name. In 2018, they also spent $18,000 to acquire two English combination domain names, otakirisprings.cn and otakirisprings.com.cn, to protect a comprehensive set of brand domains, presumably in preparation for their future entry into the domestic market.

In summary, Nongfu Spring's domain names mostly follow the traditional naming style commonly seen in bottled water companies, such as Evergrande Spring's official website being evergrandespring.com. As traditional companies increasingly shift towards an online presence, they are beginning to realize the importance of domain names. In the age of the internet, owning a domain name that aligns with the brand is essential for further development. Nongfu Spring's move to simplify their online presence with nfsq.com.cn is indicative of their transformation, but reclaiming complete brand domain names may take some time due to initial oversight.

Since the day they decided to produce only natural and mineral water, Nongfu Spring has been destined to be a steady runner. However, like the story of the tortoise and the hare, steady runners are often more likely to surpass others. Nongfu Spring's successful IPO is a testament to this strategy.