Google to test GBuy, New Online-Payment Option
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
The Wall Street Journal is running an article that states that Google will be launching GBuy, their new online payment option this week, that will compete with eBay's PayPal. GBuy, which has been expected to launch for several months, will challenge PayPal and other online payment methods. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is also planning to offer a mail-in rebate incentive to boot. The service will be tightly integrated in Google AdWords, Google's flag-ship advertising program. When users search for a term, such as "shoes", they'll be shown a contextual search ads that display an icon. This icon will mean that the advertiser supports GBuy. Clicking on the ad will take the user to the seller's website, but will buy through a different checkout process run by Google. This will disable the extra number of steps that is required to purchase items online.As Steve Rubel points out, this is a great step towards the evolution of Google AdWords. I'm happy to see that Google is stepping it up against eBay. Competition between companies is always great news for consumers because it forces the companies to innovate making the market a more enjoyable for consumers. As eBay pushes their PayPal product into the mainstream, it will pitt Google squarely against the online-action giant.
