Overview
- .tmall is a brand generic top-level domain (gTLD) applied for and delegated to Alibaba Group under ICANN's New gTLD Program.
- The string was delegated to the DNS Root Zone on 21 January 2016.
- The registry listed in source material is Neustar; the TLD is identified as a brand TLD for Alibaba's Tmall services.
History
- Applicant: Alibaba Group Holding Limited (founded 1999 by Jack Ma).
- Application reveal date referenced: 13 June 2012 (ICANN New gTLD reveal day).
- Delegation to the Root Zone: 21 January 2016.
- Alibaba's Tmall brand roots:
- Taobao founded May 2003 as a Chinese B2C/C2C retail platform.
- Taobao Mall launched in 2008 as a B2C platform (mall.taobao.com).
- Taobao Mall rebranded to Tmall in 2010 and became an independent business/brand in June 2011.
Usage and Audience
- Intended primarily for Alibaba Group's Tmall brand and related services.
- As a brand gTLD, .tmall is associated with Alibaba's B2C marketplace identity and quality-brand retail listings.
- Typical holders are expected to be Alibaba and its affiliates or services operating under the TMALL brand.
Registration Rules
- The application and accompanying materials indicate .tmall is expected to operate as a "single registrant TLD" as contemplated by ICANN (Article 4.5 of the template Registry Operator Agreement).
- "Single registrant TLD" means all domain name registrations in the TLD are registered to and maintained by the Registry Operator for its own exclusive use.
- Registry Operator does not sell, distribute or transfer control or use of registrations in the TLD to third parties that are not Affiliates of the Registry Operator.
- The source states that parties who are not Alibaba or (to the extent Alibaba permits) an Affiliate will not be entitled to register domain names in .tmall.
SEO and Brand Impact
- As a controlled brand gTLD, .tmall provides Alibaba with an exclusive namespace to reinforce the TMALL brand and maintain tight control over domains that carry the brand name.
- Exclusive, single-registrant operation supports brand consistency and trust signals tied directly to Alibaba/Tmall services (as described by the applicant materials).
Notable Cases or Examples
- Tmall Marketplace (www.tmall.com) — the dedicated B2C platform spun out from Taobao Mall and promoted under the TMALL brand.
- Taobao (www.taobao.com) — the parent marketplace and origin of the Taobao/Tmall family of services; Taobao and Tmall are referenced throughout the application materials as core Alibaba brands.
Operator
Alibaba Group Holding Limited
Whois
% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object
domain: TMALL
organisation: Alibaba Group Holding Limited
address: Fourth Floor, One Capital Place, P.O Box 847
address: George Town Grand Cayman KY1-1103
address: Grand Cayman
contact: administrative
name: Project & Process Manager
organisation: Alibaba Group Holding Limited
address: Fourth Floor, One Capital Place, P.O Box 847
address: George Town Grand Cayman KY1-1103
address: Grand Cayman
phone: +852-22155100
fax-no: +852-2215-5200
e-mail: ngtld-alibaba@cscglobal.com
contact: technical
name: Senior Director, DNS Infrastructure Group
organisation: Identity Digital Limited
address: c/o Identity Digital Inc.
address: 10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address: Bellevue WA 98004
address: United States of America (the)
phone: +1.425.298.2200
fax-no: +1.425.671.0020
e-mail: tldtech@identity.digital
nserver: A0.NIC.TMALL 2a01:8840:32:0:0:0:0:9 65.22.52.9
nserver: A2.NIC.TMALL 2a01:8840:35:0:0:0:0:9 65.22.55.9
nserver: B0.NIC.TMALL 2a01:8840:33:0:0:0:0:9 65.22.53.9
nserver: C0.NIC.TMALL 2a01:8840:34:0:0:0:0:9 65.22.54.9
ds-rdata: 58525 8 2 74cceeb96ef2237b854b057ab38a9384865f16c48eeb467364d09458b75355ef
whois: whois.nic.tmall
status: ACTIVE
remarks: Registration information: http://www.alibabagroup.com
created: 2016-01-08
changed: 2025-08-27
source: IANA
