Google, the search major continues to foray into new areas such as social, local and mobile. The latest reported move is its entry into small business service.
For businesses that principally depend on ad revenue for growth and there is a lot of competition among the participants.
Local advertising expenditure would be more than $150 billion according to a local media space advisory group. This shows online local advertising brings sizeable revenue to tech giants.
Google+ is critical to the success of the new project. All local business listings of Google will be merged and used across search, maps, mobile and Google+.
The object of the new project is said to be ‘connecting shoppers with the right store nearby or helping merchants attract and retain customers’. In local business, the vision is providing a range of flexible solutions that make the work for all local businesses rather than a single product etc. fitting all.
The strategy works thus: when shoppers visit the businesses that are on Google, Google wants them to use their Internet connected phones for making payments to stores that sign up for Google’s new service. Google hopes, stores and other businesses will use their new Google+ pages to get into communication with customers. It will also pave way to make them sign up for other products.