Google Offers gets deeper integration with Maps

Google this week announced a nifty new tool that will likely have business owners singing praise for Mountain View’s Maps app. Earlier this year, the company integrated Google Offers (Google’s answer to Groupon) into the Maps app, allowing users to find discounted goods and services from local retailers simply by finding them geographically.

Yesterday, the company announced a new offer creation tool, enabling businesses to generate and post offers in minutes and have them go live on the Maps app within a few hours.  

Google posted about the new feature on its Google Commerce blog:

“With this launch, your offer can reach customers on Google Maps when they are searching for places nearby or looking for local businesses like yours. Your business will be prominently displayed with a blue tag icon next to it, alerting customers to your offer.”

“Once a customer saves your offer, we’ll bring them to your door by sharing an offer reminder when they are near your store. We can help remind them when your offer is expiring too, through email and mobile alerts. Just create the offer; we’ll take care of the rest.”

Businesses will only need to pay when a user saves an offer and the company stated that owners would receive the full value of any sales generated through Google Offers.

While it remains to be seen if the product will take off on the same scale as coupon sites like Groupon, Google has an inherent advantage in that many consumers are already using the Maps app to find the products and services they want. Success for Google Offers would also mean a rather large black eye for Groupon, which (in)famously declined Mountain View’s nearly $6 billion acquisition offer in 2010.