Google is set to launch a new service called Google Offers to compete with popular group buying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial. After having Groupon turn down an estimated $6 billion dollar acquisition offer, the search engine giant is wasting no time to launch their own Groupon Clone. Popular social media blog, Mashable, broke the news this morning. Judging from the screen shot above, the new Google Offers interface and functionality looks very similar to Groupon. It will be interesting to see if Google can leverage its search engine monopoly to eventually challenge Groupon for local deals supremacy. They have a lot of catching up to do as Groupon is estimated to have over 50 million subscribers on its e-mail lists, which remains the primarily means of reaching an audience for local deals.

The Evolution of Google Places

Google has been positioning itself to dominate local business advertising by adding to the functionality of their Google Places local business listings. In just the last few months, they have launched the social review site Google Hotpot, the Google Places mobile app, and Google Boost ads for local business listings. I expect that the new Google Offers service will integrate with their Google Places accounts to make it easy for businesses to launch local deals. It will probably replace the Coupons option that never really caught on with businesses and consumers. With Google's massive audience in search and online ads, we'll likely start seeing local deals from Google  directly in the local business search listings. This is a great development for local businesses who want to stand our from their competition in the local search results. To get traction in the marketplace, it is also likely that Google will charge less than the 50% commission that Groupon charges for their daily deals. Google Offers Fact Sheet