Google Offers is expanding;
denizens of Austin, Houston, Philadelphia, and Miami will now have
access to daily deals in their neck of the woods. Google is also adding
more partners, in an attempt to broaden their offerings. In an attempt
to pick up the pace at which offer partners are added, Google has inked
deals with other independent specialty offers websites, including 8Moms,
DailyDeals, Half Off Depot, and Morgan’s Deals.
Will this allow
Google Offers to better compete with the Groupons and Living Socials of
the world? We’re not sure, but if you’re into the discount shopping
scene then more companies competing to get you the best deal can only be
a good thing.
One area where Google would do well to compete more effectively is in its mobile app offerings; Groupon and Living Social offer apps for all of the major mobile platforms, but so far Google Offers is Android-only,
although they indicated that an iPhone version would surface sooner or
later (they said this last November, so apparently the correct answer is
“later”).
What do you guys think? Can Google ramp up Offers fast
enough to compete, or will the window of opportunity close before they
can get an app out for everyone and add a critical mass of cities?
