Google Offers to feature a week of Zagat’s top-rated eateries in Washington, D.C.

Since the launch of Google Offers in Washington, D.C. this past September, we’ve partnered with a diverse list of restaurants all over the city, putting their unique fare in the hands (and mouths) of local foodies. We’re kicking off 2012 by showcasing several of the top Zagat rated restaurants in the D.C. community. Our goal is to continue to connect D.C. residents with local staples and foster the discovery of hidden gems.

Starting January 23, if you’re a Google Offers subscriber in Washington, D.C., we’ll send you an email featuring a special deal for a Zagat rated restaurant. If you’re not a subscriber to Google Offers in Washington, D.C. make sure you sign up so you won’t miss out on these fantastic offers. Here’s a sneak peak:

• Kaz Sushi Bistro: Zagat calls Chef Kazuhiro Okochi’s hotspot “one of DC’s most inventive and approachable sushi restaurants.” Using only the freshest ingredients (and most cutting edge techniques), Chef Okochi prepares unique cuisine that keeps foodies coming back for more. See for yourself: $15 gets you $30 of refined Japanese fare.
• Kushi: Named Washington Post Editors’ Pick, this Japanese gastropub features authentic cuisine in a casual, modern atmosphere. Step outside of your comfort zone for Japanese delicacies like wood grilled eringi mushrooms and miso marinated black cod: $30 gets you $60 toward Japanese fare.
• Marvin: Featured by Zagat as a “place to see and be seen,” Marvin combines Southern-fried cooking with a continental twist. Sample soul food inspired by Marvin Gaye, the Prince of Soul himself: $80 gets you a five-course prix fixe meal—including beer and wine flight. Plus, expect a surprise if you attend the exclusive Google Offers event on February 23!
• Nage: Dive into a gourmet meal at Nage, where surf-inspired food is prepared using classic French technique. And see what Zagat, Food Network Magazine and The Washington Post are raving about for yourself: $20 gets you $40 of upscale bistro fare at this centrally-located hidden gem.
• Zaytinya: Called DC’s “Most Popular Restaurant” by Zagat, Zaytinya has earned accolades everywhere from The Washington Post to the Washingtonian to the James Beard Foundation. Taste Mediterranean like a true gourmet with superstar chef José Andrés’ modern mezze: it’s $45 for the Chef’s Winter Tasting menu at this Gallery Place hotspot. Plus, for every Google Offer purchased, Zaytinya and José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup will donate $20 to World Central Kitchen to help end hunger.

The Google Offers D.C. team has worked hand in hand with these restaurants to bring you these great deals. We hope you enjoy this week of offers for top Zagat rated restaurants and take full advantage of the incredible food scene that our nation’s capital has to offer.

To subscribe to Google Offers in Washington, D.C. and other locations across the U.S., please visit: www.google.com/offers. And check out our free Google Offers app for Android to find and buy great deals on the go.

Posted by Guli Zhu, Business Analyst, Google Offers

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Google is going 'Big' at NRF 2012

In just a few days, we’ll be in New York to take part in the National Retail Federation’s 101st Annual Convention & EXPO-- A.k.a: Retail’s BIG Show. We’re excited to be at the show again this year and look forward to showcasing Google’s Commerce products including Google Wallet, Google Offers, Google Shopper, Google Catalogs, Google Product Search, Google Trusted Stores, Google Commerce Search, Offer Extensions, Product Listing Ads and more.

Come visit us on the EXPO floor at booth number 2375, between January 16-17, to meet with the Google team and learn how our tools can help you attract new customers, connect with shoppers in new ways and drive growth for your business.

We hope to see you next week at the show.

Posted by Keren Michelson, Google Wallet Marketing

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Together Google Offers and NYC Bakery, Fat Witch, deliver a sweet deal

Located in New York's Chelsea Market, Fat Witch Bakery has been wowing customers and critics for more than 20 years with its all-natural brownies. Owner Patricia Helding worked as a Wall Street trader before launching her celebrated line of "witches.” Since then, Helding's bakery has grown to become a local, and national, favorite having been profiled on Oprah's "Favorite Things," the Food Network, and Good Morning America in recent years.

Patricia Helding, Owner, Fat Witch Bakery

Since opening the bakery in 1991, Patricia has never implemented a traditional paid advertising campaign because the “brownies speak for themselves.” However, with hopes to expand her brick and mortar business this year, Patricia has been looking for new ways to drive increased awareness for her brand as well as attract new customers. So, when the Google Offers sales team approached Patricia about running an deal, she jumped at the chance.

“I’m a big Google fan to begin with, so it was a natural move to run a Google Offer. And Google has a huge reach. Everyone in the world uses Google. I like that people from all over can walk into the store and use a Google Offer to experience our brownies,” said Helding.

Together, Patricia and the Google team crafted an offer that accurately matched the Fat Witch brand and business model. In July 2011, the bakery ran its Google Offer: $20 worth of brownies, gifts and more for only $10.

In addition to the increased brand exposure Fat Witch garnered on the Google Offers site, the deal was also promoted on Google’s social media channels and sent to subscribers in New York City via email. "All I had to do was cover the cost of baking,” recalled Helding.

Popular “witches” include the classic chocolate Fat Witch and the Blonde Baby -- think chocolate chip cookie in a brownie form -- (pictured)

And the results were so sweet! In just 24 hours more than 400 Fat Witch offers were sold and traffic into the bakery increased by 10%. “Our number one reason for running a Google Offer was to attract new customers, as well as reward our loyal customers with a great deal,” said Helding. “I would say the majority of people who came into the store to redeem the offer were new to Fat Witch and had never tried our brownies before. We also saw a lot of people come in for our “witching hour” from 5-8pm where brownies are half off.”

Helding is eager to keep growing her business. “Absolutely I'd do another offer with Google. I think it's a great concept. We don't lose money and the offer drove store traffic and really got our brand out there.”

If you’re a merchant and are interested in running a Google Offer, please visit google.com/offers/business.

Posted by Yoshiko Ono, Account Manager, Google Offers

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Let’s play some games!

I’m a huge gamer at heart. And because of this, I love working with Google In-App Payments and helping developers make money from their awesome games. Many of us will be spending the holidays at home enjoying family time and some rest and relaxation. What better way to rest and unwind than with some awesome games that you can play in the browser instantly? Below are some of my favorite games that showcase how developers are utilizing the web platform and creating immersive, monetizable games.




Bastion
Bastion is a story-driven action RPG with beautiful 2D visuals. You control ‘the kid’ (protagonist) with your keyboard and mouse, navigating him around the world to collect pieces and rebuild the bastion. The action is intense and rewarding, and the RPG elements addictive. If you haven’t already purchased the full game, check out the first area for free before buying the full game.

Cordy
Cordy is an adorable puzzle platformer. The goal is to complete a level as quickly as possible while collecting all of the items and enough energy to charge/unlock the exit. It’s gorgeous, fast-paced, and fun to play. Try it for free and you can upgrade to the full version in-game.









Fieldrunners
I’ve been addicted to Fieldrunners (and tower defense games in general) for years, and now it’s available in the browser. Personally, playing in the browser totally fixes my fat finger issues with tower placement. For those of you that have never tried tower defense games, the goal is to prevent enemies from reaching their goal by building a maze of towers that damage them.










GT Academy
Motorsports has always been one of my hobbies, and GT Academy is great because it’s a browser-based racing sim. You can progress through your career achieving better licenses and unlocking faster cars. Once you’ve honed your keyboard driving skills, challenge other players in online multiplayer.









Dragons of Atlantis
I honestly can’t define why this game is so addictive, but I keep going back over and over. Dragons of Atlantis is an empire game where you build your cities, develop your armies, establish alliances, and raid other empires. If you haven’t tried this game, run through the tutorial and you’ll be thoroughly hooked.









Angry Birds
It’s the classic Angry Birds that everyone loves, but with new holiday-themed levels to challenge you. Check out the latest HTML5 Angry Birds.








In addition to the games highlighted here, there are more great games to be found in Chrome Web Store and on Google+. After your holiday feast, have some fun and take a look at what you can now do within your browser.

Posted by Peng Ying, Developer Advocate

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Commerce API World Tour

Over the past few months, the Google Commerce Developer team has been very busy spreading the word about Google’s In-App Payments and Shopping APIs for Search and Content. In addition to meeting developers at events in the United States, we had the opportunity to engage with developer communities around the world.

We started our world tour in Japan at Google Developer Day, Tokyo. We continued globetrotting to Australia for GDD Sydney, then to Spain for Google DevFest, Barcelona and finished in Germany with events at the Berlin GTUG and GDD Berlin.

Peng Ying and Mihai Ionescu presented distribution and monetization strategies for web applications to developers in Tokyo, Sydney and Berlin while Danny Hermes spoke about using the Google Shopping APIs in Barcelona.

We love meeting and talking to developers, and we’re looking forward to continuing to connect with developer communities worldwide. With the recent international expansion of In-App Payments, we’ll be hosting a hangout on Google+ tomorrow December 20th at 11AM PST to answer monetization questions.

For future events, keep an eye on this blog, our social media channels and the Google Developers events page, or join a Google Technology User Group.

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Commerce Developer Advocate

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In-App Payments Expands its Borders

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Code and Chromium Blogs)

Since Google In-App Payments launched in July for developers in the United States, we’ve received great feedback on how easy it is to integrate as well as how simple it is for consumers to use. While the API has been off to a strong start, there’s been a growing demand for availability outside of the United States.

So starting today, we are opening developer enrollment for Google In-App Payments to 17 additional countries. In addition to the United States, developers from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom can now use the Google In-App Payments API to incorporate an in-context payment experience into applications on the Chrome Web Store and their own sites.

Developers using In-App Payments are seeing strong conversions and revenue streams thanks to these key features:

• Ease of use: the short payment process for consumers takes place right in the developer’s app or site.
• Large existing user base: there are millions of Google Wallet online users in over 140 countries.
• Low fees: developers pay just 5% on all transactions.

You can get started accepting payments in your web apps by following the tutorial and get answers to any questions in the forum. We look forward to expanding to even more countries in the future, as well as continuously working to improve the Google In-App Payments experience.

Posted by Pali Bhat, Group Product Manager

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Trends from the biggest shopping days of the year

(Cross-posted on the Google Retail Blog)

With the biggest shopping weekend of the year behind us here in the U.S., we decided to take a step back, crunch the numbers and look at how people shopped during the extravaganza that spans Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Using Insights for Search and data from Google’s annual consumer intentions shopping study, conducted with our research partner OTX, we identified two stand-out trends this year. One, shoppers are searching more for deals online than ever before and they’re heavily relying on their mobile device as an on-the-go, personal shopping assistant. Here’s what we learned from the data:

It’s all about saving money and time
The search trends clearly showed consumers are more aware of and interested in special deals available over the holiday shopping weekend. Searches for [black friday deals] were up by 30% from last year, and searches for [cyber monday sales] and [cyber monday coupons] grew 15% year over year. Further, on Black Friday, half of the top 20 rising searches on Google involved retailers or deals.

Closing out the long weekend, [cyber monday deals 2011] made the top five growing search term on Cyber Monday. In addition, searches for [black midnight] jumped by over 30% over last year, indicating shoppers were planning to hit the stores when retailers opened their doors at 12am on Black Friday.

Most interesting to us was the growth in queries indicating that shoppers were using the web to plan out their trips to the store. Searches for [black friday store map] were conducted more than twice as often this year as in 2010, and searches for [black friday store hours] were up over 40% for the same time period.

Mobile matters
More and more shoppers are reaching for their phones to compare prices, look for store locations and inventory and find deals. In fact, searches for [mobile coupons] were up 90% over last year’s volume and mobile search volume for retail-related searches on Black Friday this year was up 200% over Black Friday last year.

According to our study, 55% of participants said they will use their smartphone’s location features on some or most shopping trips, while 47% will use a smartphone to compare prices and 42% will use their phone to search for the nearest store.

They might not fit in your pocket, but tablets are a rising device for getting some serious shopping done: 47% of study participants said they use their tablets to search for coupons or rebates and 44% use them to make purchases.

What’s hot this holiday season
It’s always fun to take a look at the most popular product searches just after Thanksgiving and try to predict what this year’s Tickle Me Elmo will be.

While netbooks emerged as a popular product last holiday season, this year’s data shows tablets overtaking netbooks in search popularity.

Also, the most popular products searched for on Google Product Search over the long weekend was the Leapfrog LeapPad Explorer. Other top products in their categories include:

• Kitchen Appliance: Keurig Special Edition B60 coffee maker
• Board game: Angry Birds Knock on Wood game
• Video game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Doll: Lalaloopsy Silly Hair doll - Jewel Sparkles
• Digital camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i digital SLR Camera

Finally, our survey found that 43% of consumers embraced the craziness of the Black Friday weekend and as of Cyber Monday, had finished the majority of their holiday shopping. But don’t panic if you’re part of the 57% majority. If last year’s trends hold true for 2011, we’ll see a big spike in shopping traffic in mid-December, when procrastinators like myself rush to get their shopping done.

Posted by Sameer Samat, VP of Product Management, Google

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