So Facebook and Google are now looking to flex their muscles and take down Groupon and Living Social for the business that’s growing faster than our national deficit, social group buying.
Google Deals
I don’t know much about the Google Deals, but the logical place for them. O be run is Google Places. It’ll be interesting to see how much they charge for the deal. A lot of companies are deterred by Groupon because they take 50% of the revenue.
I think Google could be successful with it simply because Google local listings have become so important. They now show up almost always for location specific search terms, and Google has put so much emphasis on them for a reason. It’s one of their few profit centers that has the potential to make them a lot of money.
Facebook Deals
The intrigue with Facebook deals is how they plan to implement it. The rumor us that they won’t charge anything to the retailer, and the consumer will have to pay with Facebook credits. The consumer will be charged a fee to buy the credits. This could be huge for Facebook because they’ll get a lot of interest from retailers to try it out since there’s no risk for them.
Both group buying programs are still in beta band only in select cities, so when I do one for one of my clients I’ll update you on whether they are worth the effort.
