Bing launches Deals service to compete with Google
Microsoft’s Bing search engine is launching a new local deals service to compete against Google Offers, Yahoo Local Offers and other social shopping websites.
Bing Deals gives US users access to more than 200,000 offers in 14,000 towns and cities across the country.
The new service acts as an aggregator and provides offers from sites such as Groupon and Living Social in its search results.
Microsoft partnered with service provider The Dealmap to launch Bing Deals, instead of creating its own program.
Director of product management for Bing Mobile Andy Chu says: “Bing’s mission is to help you cut through the clutter of the web to make decisions more quickly – whether that’s through our own innovations or by teaming up with industry experts.”
Bing Deals is available in the US on desktop as well as on the iPhone and Android mobile internet browsers. However, the Deals service is not currently available on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating system because it does not yet run on HTML5 software.
Bing Deals is currently only available in the US, but Microsoft has a history of launching new services internationally before bringing them to the UK. Microsoft launched Bing in the US and China before its UK launch late 2009.
Users can search for deals by location – including geolocation if accessed on mobile – and by category. Deals can be saved or shared with a friend via e-mail.
Although Google dominates the search market, its rivalry with Bing, its closest competitor, has heated up in recent months. In February Google accused Microsoft of copying its search results.
Google has also cashed in on the growing trend for social commerce by launching Google Offers, a local daily discount service, in January.
Shortly after, Facebook launched its Deals platform in Europe, partnering with brands including Starbucks, O2 and Yo! Sushi to offer its users geo-location based promotions.
