A while back, they offered over a billion dollars to Chicago based Groupon, Inc. in an effort to buy the popular web site. Groupon declined the offer however and remained tight-lipped about the offer and what they thought about it. The owner was even on the Today show in New York where he basically said absolutely nothing about the offer and his company.
Now Google must figure that they know better. Or they just think they can compete with anybody because they are Google. Well, they can.. I think.
Google has let it slip that they will be announcing very soon that they are starting a web site to compete directly with Groupon. They will call it Offers. Pretty simple I guess. Google is currently in talks with various restaurants and other companies to secure offers they will be able to solicit to their customers. And their customers? Whoever signs up for the free service. From what we can tell they will operate much like the Groupon model. They will put a coupon offer out there that is a real good deal.. almost 50% or more off the standard price. And the offer is time limited and also requires a certain amount of people to accept the offer. If they do, then the offer becomes valid and ready to use.
With Google's resources and name behind them they look to become a problem for Groupon. However many think that because of Groupon's established model and customer base, nobody, not even Google will pose a problem for the coupon monster. And if their declination of an offer of over a billion dollars is any indication, maybe they don't have anything to worry about.
