Google Offers Group Buying Service Lauching Soon
Maybe you remember reading about Google's attempt to acquire Groupon, a leading deal of the day website that is offering its users a deal per day based on their location. Google's 6 Billion offer fell through and the Internet giant decided to follow one of the oldest credos on the Internet: If you cannot buy, copy.
Information about Google Offers turned up earlier today in form of a news post on Mashable that received a fact sheet about Google Offers that is being sent out to businesses.
According to that fact sheet Google Offers "is a new product to help potential customers and clientele find great deals in their area through a daily email". Businesses benefit from the new opportunity as well, by advertising to millions of users and only paying for it when users buy the offer.
Other benefits according to the stats sheet:
- Get in front of more potential customers in your city
- Bring in both new and valuable customers with great deals
- Exposure across Google ad networks at no additional cost
- Manage your offer easily with tools to track and measure your ROI
- Get paid quickly with no out-of-pocket expenses for your business
The fact sheet is aimed at businesses. Google is currently actively reaching out to businesses. A major difference, or shall we say advantage here is that the offers will be advertised on Google's ad network without additional costs to the merchant or business.
It is not clear yet if Google Offers will work exactly like Groupon. It is only clear at this point that users will get a daily email with an offer from a local merchant or business that they can purchase or not. It is likely that Google Offers makes use of a similar business model which would mean that the deal will only go through if enough customers buy the deal on that day.
Update: Businesses can create offers by going to their Google Places listing and clicking the Offers tab there.
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I assume that this is, initially at least, USA only…shame you omitted to mention geographic coverage in your article.
I’m not sure if there’s any “shame” on this “omission”. A reasonable reader should be expected to reasonably assume that a U.S. company will first launch in U.S. Much like Japanese companies launch their stuff in Japan first.