Google Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in Signpost a self-service local deals site, according to a report from TechCrunch. In the headline I compare it to RetailMeNot because there are no salespeople; it’s all self-service (merchants or users).
It’s a well-designed site that operates currently in four cities: New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.
Assuming that the content grows, the user experience is partly what may distinguish it from competitors. And by that I mean: nice design and the fact that users can browse deals. Other sites such as Ask Deals, TheDealMap and 8Coupons allow users to search and browse deals too of course.
I’m not familiar with the logic or rationale behind Google’s investments but the self-service component is probably a significant reason here. The company has largely blown its own coupon opportunity through neglect and will probably make an acquisition in the segment at some future point.
There have been rumors that Yahoo was trying to buy Groupon. I would imagine that Google is also looking pretty seriously at the space.
However if you’re Google you could buy an aggregator (Yipit, DealMap) or create your own version of coupon aggregation and distribution — a deals version of Google Alerts. But Google could also create a pretty powerful channel for its SMB customers (and another reason for them work with Google) if the company did something in the space that offered a “push” email marketing capability.
Indeed, there’s a lot that Google could do with coupons/deals for both consumers and local merchants. Why aren’t they?
October 20th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Greg –
I’ve heard that Google is going to be rolling out a big enhancement to their coupon system in the next quarter. This could be part of that effort.
And you’re right — it’s long overdue.
October 20th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
We’ll see.
October 20th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
They’re hiring Interaction Designers and Software Engineers and both job descriptions touch on web and mobile items.
October 20th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Interesting
October 22nd, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Looks like that coupon enhancement I heard about is called Google Offers:
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/search/7850.html
October 22nd, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Thanks Mike. That’s interesting. I’ll dig a bit deeper.
October 23rd, 2010 at 12:08 am
I spoke to Google about this today . . . it’s very “embryonic” but stuff is definitely coming.
October 29th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
[...] has invested in Signpost, a self-service deals marketplace. In addition, Google owns a piece of SCVNGR. If acquired it could [...]
November 15th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Hey Greg — Google Offers may be less “embryonic” than they led on…
Coupons in the Google Places console just got renamed Offers:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2010/11/15/google-coupons-joining-the-witness-protection-program-as-google-offers/
November 15th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Mike:
I saw Mike’s article. They’ve changed the tab name but the “product” isn’t new. Yet clearly something’s coming.
November 16th, 2010 at 10:34 am
[...] Mike Blumenthal pointed out yesterday that Google has renamed Coupons “Offers” in its Places dashboard. This is likely part of a larger move to revamp coupons on Google more generally. The company not long ago invested in a self-service deals site, Signpost. [...]