The new record IDN sale is Gartenmöbel.de (”garden furniture” in German) for a fairly staggering €150,000 ($214,500).

So the question on every IDN investors lips should be “why are IDN sales so strong in Germany but not in my market(s)?” Here’s my take:

1. IDNs are a great fit for the German language.
2. The German online advertising market is very strong.
3. The German population is very technical and well-educated, so will have good knowledge of IDNs, use IDN-compatible web browsers etc.
4. IDNs have been available for a while (and popular) in the local ccTLD namespace.

So if you have invested in a similar market, 2010 should be your year. If you can only tick one of two of the boxes, prepare to keep waiting for a while before the big sales happen…..

Filed under:
German IDN Domains, IDN Domain Sales by Lee Hodgson