So Daily Deals are wilting? Google starts a revival with 13,800 sales in just over a day
Sometimes it's not what you do, it's the way that you do it. Google has seized the initiative in the daily deals market
But Google appears to think they've got it wrong. And the secret, the search giant seems to believe: Put the deal where everyone will see it on Google.com.
On Wednesday Google featured an offer for $5 tickets to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, a huge cut from the regular $25.
The deal was right below the search box, "space it considers sacrosanct and which it rarely uses to promote products," Ad Age magazine pointed out.
The deal was also " geo-targeted" - only people with a New York IP address saw the link.
A Google spokeswoman said via email, "We occasionally include a link on the Google homepage that points users to important information, whether it be about a relevant cause, a new product or an offer.
"We believe that users can benefit from learning about great deals from local organisations." By Thursday afternoon, a whopping 13,810 tickets to the Natural History Museum had been purchased.
Back in June, Google launched Offers, a daily deals service like Groupon's, in Portland. It's since added deals for the San Francisco area and New York City.