After Google’s failed attempt to purchase Groupon for an est. 6 Billion USD, they decided to launch a direct competitor: Google Offers. Of the six locations announced, only Portland went live at launch. Today, Google has announced that Offers has now launched in New York and San Francisco; being tailed closely by LivingSocial which has also launched in New York.  Google Offers will expand to Austin, Boston, Denver, Seattle and Washington, D.C. in the near future, the company says. The daily deals market is becoming over-saturated with competitors having no immediately apparent differentiating factors for consumers, save for the retailers they partner with. How “Google Offers” plans to super-cede Groupon for merchants is to pay merchants a significantly larger portion of their revenues in a shorter period of time than Groupon is currently offering. For some Groupon agreements, the first installment is 33% in 5 days with the remainder being paid out over the next 6 months; according to Google Offers’ payment terms, merchants receive 80% of their share in 4 days—more than twice as much, 1 day earlier. If Google Offers is able to put enough financial pressure on Groupon and LivingSocial by sweetening the deal for merchants and retailers.  It could provide the incentive needed to turn prospective retailers and consumers of a daily deal marketing strategy to partnering exclusively with Google Offers. In conjunction with traditional daily emails, device and application integration of “Google Offers” with mobile devices.  The services like Wallet, Places (formerly Hotpot), Checkout, Google Plus, as well as their pre-existing ad space will make “Google Offers” much more accessible and provide exposure on many different platforms. Google’s payment terms power-play may be rendered ineffective once Groupon, now worth “as much as $25 billion”, goes public sometime this year; allowing them to use shareholder equity to fund their operations and development. Despite the competition in the daily deals space, one thing is certain: When there is competition in any industry, the consumer always comes out on top. But as these companies continue to undercut one another, they should be wary of the price floor instilled by the merchants and retailers looking to use daily deals, and still have it be a profitable campaign.   Keenan keenan@wishpond.com Check out https://www.wishpond.com/ to find local product in nearby stores.