Response to ICANN Consultation on .COOP Renewal

["Neil Homer" <neil.homer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Midcounties Co-operative offers its full support to the renewal of
the .COOP sTLD due in November 2006. 

 

We are one of the UK's largest consumer co-operatives and have used a
number of .COOP domain names for our various business websites and email
addresses since the launch of the sTLD in 2002.

 

The sTLD enables us to reinforce online our offline co-operative brand
propositions to customers, members, employees, suppliers and partners.
Marketing our co-operative advantage in the 21st century depends on us
being able to assert our co-operative identity on the internet and .COOP
is therefore a valuable tool.

 

We know that the sTLD has not yet realised the potential envisaged by
its founding partners, of which we were one. But changes in ownership
and structure of the largest .COOP registrar have returned the venture
to the international co-operative movement and are expected to lead to a
significant increase in .COOP domain name usage in 2006 and beyond.

 

Bob Burlton,

Chief Executive,

Midcounties Co-operative Ltd

 

January 2006

 


West Midlands Co-operative Society (WMCS) and Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester 
Co-operative Society (OSG) have merged to form The Midcounties Co-operative.

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