The world's most popular Internet search engine provider
Google Inc
. (
GOOG
) recently launched a new digital coupon offering, Zavers, in a
bid to reap maximum benefits from its search engine business and
expand its online shopping business.
The new service will allow retailers and manufacturers to
reward shoppers with relevant coupons, expand reward programs and
track redemption of the coupons. Customers can save the Zavers
discounts, which they find on retailer websites, to their
accounts. Coupons will be redeemed and savings deducted
automatically as soon as they check out.
In September 2011, Google acquired Zave Networks, which
specializes in digitizing coupons and loyalty rewards programs.
Zavers is Google's first product based on this acquisition. Some
of Zavers' partners include A&P, The Food Emporium, Price
Chopper, Superfresh and Pathmark.
This service has the potential to strengthen Google's foothold
in the retail world and help it to expand services like Google
Wallet in the long run. Customers using Google Wallet can redeem
the Zavers coupons instantly by using their phones at the
checkout point.
Coupons often induce consumers to buy items that they
initially may not have intended to, increasing the number of
users and hence expanding the revenue base for the seller.
Google's platform is expected to help retailers update their data
and promote their businesses by better targeting coupons. This,
in turn, is expected to improve their return on investment
(ROI).
Coupon marketing is gaining popularity and the Internet is
fuelling this growth. Consumers gain from this form of marketing
as coupons enable them to buy premium goods and services at lower
prices. It is also ideal for small enterprises to market and
promote their businesses. In the U.S.,
Groupon
Inc
. (
GRPN
) and LivingSocial.com are the dominant players in the
segment.
In April, Internet users in the U.S. made about 80 million
searches using Google's shopping-search site, while
eBay
Inc.
(
EBAY
) and
Amazon.com Inc.
(
AMZN
) handled about 900 million and 335 million searches,
respectively, according to research firm comScore Inc. These
figures indicate that although Google is the leading search
engine, it could gain from boosting shopping-related
searches.
Google has done well in the third quarter, with its gross
revenue touching a record $14.10 billion. Revenues from both
Google-owned and partner sites continued to grow in double digits
on a year-over-year basis. Historically, Google has always fared
better than
Yahoo Inc
(
YHOO
), which has been struggling to hold ground and
Microsoft
(
MSFT
), which is yet to gain critical mass.
However, legal entanglements related to competitive matters or
patent infringements remain an overhang. Google retains a Zacks
Rank #3 (Hold).
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