Google is trying to keep abreast with Groupon in the mobile e-commerce wars and yesterday released an update to its Google Shopper for iPhone app that appears to be going straight after the daily deals service mobile location push, Groupon Now.
Google Shopper will now show iPhone users local deals in their vicinity from retailers that have submitted offerings through Google Places. Two new tabs have been added to the bottom of the app – “Offers” and “My Offers.” Offers will show users a list with map options of offers near their location. Those offers can be saved to be redeemed later, in which case they will be moved over to the My Offers tab. At this point, Groupon has the critical mass of users to keep Google’s e-commerce offerings at bay, but Mountain View is waging a feature war against the daily deals ecosystem. If Groupon or LivingSocial were to stumble, Google is ready to pick up the slack.
Groupon Now is the company’s answer to mobile and location. For users who opt in, it will track their location to provide Groupon context of where they go and how they shop. Groupon also recently partnered both with Loopt and Foursquare to dive deeper into the mobile location deals market. The moves are a part of Groupon’s aggressive customer acquisition and retention strategy, which it would love to expand beyond its current dominant model of email and search.
Google reportedly bid $6 billion for Groupon only to be rebuked by the deals service, which was obviously looking towards an IPO that would put any acquisition exit to shame. So, Google has now been left to cobble together the same features that Groupon has been rolling out, just without the user base. Google Offers, which rolled out to Portland, Ore., San Francisco and New York City earlier this year, is also integrated into the newest version of Google Shopper. Users will be able to redeem their offers through the My Offers tab.
While Google Offers is still a nascent product from the search giant, it should become a significant revenue stream for the company as Google Wallet is rolled out on phones with near field communication (NFC) in coming years. Between Places, Offers and Wallet, Google is putting together an impressive suit of products for its e-commerce push.
