Groupon and Travelzoo may be facing a formidable foe in the burgeoning local deals market with confirmation that a new product, Google Offers, is being tested.
Google says it is working on what is effectively a Groupon copy, a model where registered users are notified of a daily or weekly deal, based on their location.
The concept is not particularly new, but Groupon’s extraordinary growth rate during 2010 has triggered a frenzy of copycats of its own, with perhaps Travelzoo the most high profile in the travel sector to get involved, initially in the US and now the UK.
Destination-specific deals, such as restaurant, activities, tours and hotel extras, seem to be the mainstay of travel-related products running such services at the moment.
Read the full story at:http://www.tnooz.com/2011/01/21/news/local-deals-market-moves-up-a-gear-as-google-offers-arrives/