14 DAY TRIAL // Google is just as happy to buy a company as it is to build a competing product. When it couldn't buy Groupon, it set about creating Google Offers. But that doesn't mean that it's not interested in other companies in the space, Google has now acquired DailyDeal, a daily deals site which operates in German speaking countries.
Google will integrate the site with its existing Offers product, so it looks like Offers' first international expansion is going to be in Germany and surrounding areas.
Google recently acquired daily deals aggregator Dealmap, which puts deals on the map, quite literally.
"When DailyDeal was founded in Berlin back in December 2009, there was just two of us. Since then, we have seen tremendous growth," DailyDeal wrote in an announcement on its website.
"Our team has grown too, and with it, our vision for DailyDeal," it said. "That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’ve been acquired by Google!"
"What began as a two-person startup less than two years ago has transformed into a trusted platform to connect businesses with consumers," it added.
"By combining our expertise with the Offers team at Google, we hope to expand our efforts to provide even greater deals to consumers," it explained.
Google Offers is now available in a few cities in the US, but it's still in trial mode. The service is fairly typical daily deals site, it notifies subscribers of local deals via email.
However, Google has bigger plans for it, it will eventually integrate it with its advertising business and with other products. There will also be other ways of contacting Offers users.
Google has started some of these first steps, though there is no deep integration yet. What's more, Google is also integrating Offers with Wallet, its mobile, digital wallet service that is said to be launching later today.