Almost exactly a month after the official launch of Google Wallet, the company has posted an update about the revolutionary product- Availability in new major merchants, plans of expansion to more and new coupons and rewards features.
New Merchants And Plans
Today, Customers can Tap and Pay with Wallet in more major merchants- Guess, Jamba Juice, American Eagle, The Container Store, Foot Locker, OfficeMax, Toys R’ Us and Macy’s. In addition, Wallet is being implemented and equipped for future availability in Chevron, D’Agostino, Faber News Now, Gristedes Supermarkets, Subway and Pinkberry.
It seems that Google is making tremendous efforts focusing to distribute the service to as much major merchants as possible, so they would set new standards of commerce consumption habits using Wallet.
Offers, Discounts, Coupons and Rewards
Some of the merchant partners have begun using automatic rewards/coupons program when using Wallet- Whenever the customer is purchasing something with Wallet, he automatically earns rewards or loyalty point without further action is taken.
The Offers tab has also been improved and it now includes new Featured Offers section (as in the photo) which contains exclusive sales and discounts only for Wallet users. For example, today it featured 15% discounts at American Eagle and Macy’s.
The last update, is detailed transaction information displayed when making a purchase, after Google received feedback from the users- It now includes the merchant name, location, price and time.
Final Thoughts
Even though Wallet is progressing, i can’t say it is gaining big momentum due to its limitations (it is only available in Nexus S 4G phone for instance). However, i do believe that this service will become the standard in the near future.
If your work at home includes at least some eCommerce, i recommend you start thinking about implementing this service in your business. You can sign-up and find more information in Wallet for Merchants.
Here’s a video released by Google, capturing the first reactions to Wallet and its features: