Advice on site name and build options

Chickaletta wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read and reply if you can help. I am currently researching setting up an online gifting business focusing on the Irish market. I have found a URL that I think is suitable and available but 2 questions before I progress:

1) There is a company operating in the US under the .com domain with the same name. I checked and they seem to have a trademark for the US only. Is there any way to check if they have any other rights over the name in the Irish market?

2) I am started creating a website in WIX - really impressed with its ease of use and how it looks so far but from reading threads here I think Shopify might be more suitable for ecommerce sites. I would hope to be selling a range of products eventually but will start off with 5 - 10. If anyone can advise on either that would be appreciated.

Many thanks again

I can’t speak to point 1, but if you are slinging product you have to be on a dedicated e-commerce platform and Shopify is the obvious choice. I do have a lot of love for big commerce but Shopify Looks like your best bet.

There are trade off with design on a platform like Shopify and you might need pros help to get it up to standard compared to wix etc but what you gain (app marketplace, up sell apps, email, out of the box shopping cart) you need to be an Shopify.

Holler if you need more info on it.

As protelos, if this is your first rodeo, go with Shopify. Wix is great but it has limitations which you'll hit very quickly.

For point 1, how large is the operation in the US? Are they are a big player or a local shop? If they are even midsized, they could cause trouble for you if they started to notice your presence. You may be free and clear legally, but it wouldn't take much for them to just cause hassle with legal letters and demands. If they own certain rights to the name, they can also prevent you from advertising digitally in certain markets. SEO will also be challenging if they are well established.

You also run the risk of people coming to you and complaining about purchases, even if they have nothing to do with you. We get this occasionally with a brand that is very similar to one in the US.

Overall, I'd weigh up how large the current operator is and decide if it's worth it versus potentially altering your name.

Don't forget that Shopify also includes lots of ongoing features which can be overlooked when setting up a website like hosting, security cert, support and software updates, not just the upfront design costs.