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Google Offers opens for business in Portland, Ore. today

google offersYesterday we reported that Google’s +1 social feature could be launching today, after TechCrunch claimed that a combination of leaked partner information and an invitation to a new Google product announcement suggested as much. While +1’s debut is likely in our very near future, it appears that today’s big announcement is Google Offers. Google announced via its blog that its daily deals site would being beta testing in Portland, Oregon today beginning with 70-percent off at local café Floyd’s Coffee.

Google’s made no secret of its coupon curator ambitions. The Internet titan tried its very best to bag Groupon (for a rumored $6 billion), but the original collective buying site would have none of it. Undeterred, Google created its own version and has been busy recruiting and building the project – especially focusing on the local element that has worked so well for the likes of Groupon and LivingSocial.

Our initial impression is that Google Offers will fare just fine. Unlike Yahoo and AOL, Google has been busy acquiring its own location-specific deals instead of just aggregating the various ones floating around the Internet. The fact that Google has Places, Maps, and Hotpot (jury’s still out on how effective this feature is) to build off of and wrap into its deals site don’t hurt either. True to deal-a-day form, Offers includes some back story on the featured business and details on the discount. Obviously, Google Maps is there to point you in the right direction and send you to the retailer’s Google Places page. There’s also a link to take a 360-degree peek inside the store itself.

Obviously, Google has the resources to seriously invest in these types of applications, but the site has a history of missing the mark when it comes to anything related to social media. But from this initial look, it seems like it may be on the right track. Now Google just has to hope people haven’t grown weary of the Groupon-style scheme yet. Regardless of how successful and well-constructed a daily deals site is, we can’t help but feel that the clock is ticking on this industry. Sure, local discount aggregation is here to stay, but there’s definitely a possibility that the novelty has worn off and people aren’t as inclined to sign up for one now, like they were when Groupon first launched and introduced the idea. That said, Google has the customer base to pull from and advertise to that Groupon didn’t, and that’s an edge we’re sure the company is prepared to leverage.

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Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
Google Offers vs. Groupon vs. Facebook Deals

Google has officially joined deal-a-day culture and jumped right into the increasingly crowded pool of local-discount curators. And it's got some hefty competitor, not limited to but including Facebook Deals and Groupon. Given this market's saturation, they can't all succeed - so which will sink and which will swim? Here's a quick look at what they bring to the daily discount table.
Availability
Facebook Deals: Facebook Deals are currently available in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco. However the social network also has its Check-in Deals application, which is more widely available via its mobile app. Using its Places tool, users can check in and view deals nearby – a similar concept to the newly-launched Groupon Now. You can view available Check-in Deals on the site as well, and it’s widely available.

Google Offers: At the moment, Google Offers is beta testing in Portland, Oregon. New York City, San Francisco, and Oakland should follow. As of press time, Google had only introduced two deals, and there seems to be some sort of hitch rolling them out. We checked the site both yesterday and today, and were told there were currently no deals available in Portland. After a short wait, we received e-mail notification that there was a new discount. A small inconvenience, and one we'll chalk up to early glitches.

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Groupon and Loopt partner to offer real-time, location-aware deals

There’s some serious overlap in the daily discount and geo-social platforms. Fortunately for Groupon, the coupon curator to rule them all is launching a way to most effectively bridge whatever divide is left. We recently mentioned that the site announced it would be launching Groupon Now, a smartphone app to provide you with real-time discounts that are sent to you based on your current geographical location.

Today it was announced that Loopt, a check-in app with its own social network, is collaborating with Groupon to launch the area-aware deals app in Chicago. According to Business Week, all five million Loopt users will soon be alerted when they’re physically near a local deal, pulling that discount info from Groupon. But don’t think that means Groupon is deferring this partnership with Loopt, as the Groupon Now national launch is in our near future.

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Groupon and LiveNation partner to offer tickets to live events

Groupon is widening its reach even further and partnering with Live Nation to bring you GrouponLive, a new site for tickets to venues and events in your area. “Groupon will serve as a local resource for Live Nation events and clients of its global ticketing business, Ticketmaster. The site will be a groundbreaking resource for consumers to find high-value tickets to concerts, sports, theater, arts and other live events, while serving as a timely and effective way for merchants to sell more tickets.”

GrouponLive should hit sometime this summer, and will only be offered to North American subscribers. While the launch will be initially limited, this could be a huge coup for Groupon. The deal-a-day, collective buying site may have been the first and most well-known of its kind, but this niche market is becoming overwhelmingly crowded. Groupon is even experiencing some very tangible, head-to-head competition with LivingSocial--the daily discount site giving it a real run for its money.

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