by samGoogle has a solid hold over Internet marketing efforts the world over. It’s the primary focus of SEO and PPC campaigns everywhere; it’s responsible for the fastest-growing social network in history and now seems to be attempting to further its reach over offline sales. Google Wallet allows customers to make purchases with a few taps of their phone through NFC chip technology and proximity scanning.
The service isn’t even in its beta stages yet, and already there are talks of it (or an incarnation of the NFC software it utilises) revolutionising commerce and further bridging the gap between online and offline sales. Recently, this gap has been lessened by daily deal websites such as Groupon, Living Social, and most recently, Facebook, who have all been able to offer time-sensitive deals relative to location via mobile apps. Google Wallet is unique in the way that there is potential to link the NFC technology with Google Offers, their local deal service, for a seamless, incentivised process.
Google plans to develop Google Wallet into an inclusive alternative to the wallet, but it wouldn’t be deemed overly sceptical to see this as unrealistic, at least in the foreseeable future. To begin with, Google would have to compensate for those cards and contents of our wallet that aren’t directly related to buying things and for all of the companies that don’t adopt the service. It already seems as though the acquisition of card companies may be a difficult process. It’s also unlikely that someone would opt to leave their wallet at home in favour of a digital wallet reliant on the battery power of a smartphone. While a card is likely to be around for a while yet, Google Wallet does offer a quick and convenient means of carrying out purchases, but online marketers will have to hoist their creativity in developing ways of stimulating commerce through a streamlined service, and this is where Google offers and the potential social commerce enabled by Google+ might prove useful.
Offers provide a way for marketers to drive locals to their shops where, unlike many coupon-based services, the deal will be instantly redeemable. Incentives don’t have to go through the offer platforms, though; online marketers could tie in pay-per-click ads or implement deals straight from the shop in the form of discounts and loyalty points. This payment method could potentially be more organised as well. Purchase histories could take the form of individualised digital receipts when purchasing in any given NFC-enabled shop. Online marketers would also be able to monitor the success of their ‘deals’ and offerings, as it will be easier to record when digital coupons are being used. No one knows exactly how the mobile wallet will integrate with Google’s other services, but if their current attempts to cover all bases are a good indicator, they will be ties in all relevant services. The main issues will be its current competition in the fields of mobile payment and already heavily utilised location-based deal services.