The world's biggest registrar of domain names formally arrived in SA this week, promising to shake up a tiny industry. Ironically, for a sector that underpins almost all online business activity in SA, it has a remarkably low profile. Close to 1.2-million domain names have been registered in this country by companies such as Hetzner, Afrihost and Domains.co.za.
Now, their cosy dominance of the domains market is to end, with the arrival of GoDaddy, a US company with a market cap of $12.8bn (about R185bn), 9,000 staff and 77-million domain names under management. It hosted an event in Africa for the first time, choosing Johannesburg 's emerging central business district of Rosebank as its launch venue.
The big focus initially will be on educating small businesses on the potential of websites, said Stefano Maruzzi, GoDaddy vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who presided over the South African launch this week. He believes that domain names are a neglected asset, because of the mistaken belief by start-ups and entrepreneurs that it is difficult to build websites. He highlighted GoDaddy's website-building tool by showcasing three tiny businesses that had created professional websites in less than an hour. The companies - Just Ben, Konfetti Love and Braai Point Food Truck - all presented websites that would put many large enterprises to shame.
GoDaddy has had a virtual presence in SA for some time, pricing its domains in rands, and offering a local customer-support number. Its growth in this market last year - Maruzzi revealed that revenue was up 13% and its customer base had increased by 25% - was clearly an incentive to put feet on the ground. It has also grown its marketing investment here, and hired a small public relations company, Idea Engineers, to get its message out.
That will translate into far greater awareness not only of the potential of websites, but also the value of domain names. As a result, says Domains.co.za founder Wayne Diamond, "it will grow the entire market and the industry will benefit - both GoDaddy and local providers".
Diamond acknowledged that it would not be all wine and roses for existing players. "Obviously we've got to be aware of all international entrants into the South African market. At the same time, though, companies must bear in mind that all local hosting companies have local hosting and local infrastructure, which we believe is superior in terms of speed and latency. As far as website builders go, we have an exceptional builder where you can create a site in 15 minutes, from a static page to full-blown e-commerce with local payment integration."
There are more than 400 registrars in SA, though most are internet service providers or businesses that administer their own domains.
Even the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission is a registrar, in collaboration with the .za Domain Name Authority (.Zadna): it offers domain name registration for registered companies or co-operatives. But, despite its seemingly captive market, it is hardly a dominant player. About 15 of the registrars are responsible for most domain registrations in SA.
• Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee..