Calling all Registrars: .FR = greater profit margins!

Let’s consider the facts:  .fr is the internet domain that generates the greatest profit margins for all your services, for four reasons:

1. Despite inflation, the cost of registering a .fr domain name has not changed since 2014 (when it fell by 5%). Better yet, on 1 July, we aligned the cost of all our operations, for all registrars, big or small, at just €4.56! (instead of €5.51) We also plan to lower the price of annual packages for all registrars at a new rate of €500 per year excluding VAT in 2023 (instead of €1,450 per year excluding VAT). What have the price changes of other registries been over the same period? How do your clients react to each increase?
2. Today 1 euro = 1 dollar. The euro is at a historic low. Given that we invoice registrars in euros, that means that the cost is falling even more rapidly compared to domains that invoice in dollars. Compared, for example, to another domain at $10 (=€10 today), .fr is €5.44 cheaper!
3. Since July 2022, Afnic has undertaken to pay back 2% of the revenues from the .fr TLD into commercial operations with its registrars. Some 30 commercial operations have been launched in 2022. We await your calls to achieve even more.
4. With a renewal rate of 84.6% in 2021, the .fr TLD provides a means of combating churn. It is a trusted TLD, for mid- and long-term projects alike. Including a .fr domain name with your services is a guarantee of a high retention or renewal rate for your services. When other registries sponsor create operations to drop to €1 then apply a €40, €50 or even €60 renewal fee, the create rate may be high, but the renewal rate is poor. With .fr, renew and create operations cost the same amount: €4.56 excluding VAT! No unpleasant surprises for your customers (and incidentally fewer customer complaints for your support service or abuse notification service to handle).

Let’s say that your hosting package costs €100 for the year and that you offer free domain name registration the first year: by choosing the .fr TLD, you save €5 compared to another TLD at $10. That’s a 5% higher margin! With those €5, you can choose to increase your margins, increase your marketing budget to reach more prospects or maintain your prices to a certain extent if your costs increase. Several registrars recently issued statements on the price rises concerning their hosting packages. We know that it is unpleasant for everyone and we are offering you the opportunity to limit this increase and thus help make the digital shift of VSEs/SMEs accessible.

For sales of domain names only, with the price difference, you can register a .fr domain name for 2 years for the price of 1 year with other TLDs.

While ‘Made in France’ can be more costly in some business sectors, in the case of Internet domains and thanks to the cost of our operations, it is clear that .fr, which is made in France, costs half the price of .com.

This blog post is therefore a call to all registrars to favour the .fr TLD. In concrete terms, by systematically pushing the .fr domain to the forefront when selling your products, you can save €5 per sale. It would be a pleasure to support all registrars with this ‘.fr reflex’ through an added commercial operation for your package if you so wish.

Limit the price inflation of your products by selling the leading French TLD made in France by a non-profit association that pays its taxes in France, that has services in France and that donates the main part of its profits (>€2M in 2021) to a Foundation that advocates digital solidarity, that helps retailers, tradespersons, self-employed professionals and associations make the digital shift thanks to free online and in-person training courses run all year… And which, at half the price of the .com domain, cares most about your profit margins.