Financial terms of the acquisition were not revealed. But Google said the company would become part of its mobile commerce activities.
“We look forward to working with Incentive Targeting in our ongoing efforts to help consumers save time and money and enable retailers to deliver relevant discounts to the right customers,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to PCMag.
What Incentive Targeting does… (Credit: Incentive Targeting)
In its announcement of the acquisition, Incentive Targeting stated that it will now have the capability to “continue the transformation of couponing from a way to give discounts to a way to build business.”
Elaborating further, the company said, “When we established Incentive Targeting… we set out to do for retail couponing what Google had done for online advertising: make it simple, relevant, measurable, and effective,” the company said in its announcement. “So, it is both humbling and gratifying to be joining the ranks of the company that inspired our initial vision.”
The couponing specialist also noted that it had set out to do for online coupons what Google had managed to do for online advertising, making the category “simple, relevant, measurable, and effective.”
It further said its solutions are designed to bring “together retailers and manufacturers” with a platform that is supposed to be able to identify groups of shoppers within minutes and then send them “highly relevant offers.”
Established in 2007, Incentive Targeting worked with retail chains and brands to design promotions, deliver them via coupon, and track their return on investment in real time. The Massachusetts-based company offers a self-service, Web-based application for creating and managing targeted promotions.
The company’s patented software allows marketers to view sales data and trends, and then leverage that information as part of coupon campaigns. Besides, the firm has created a handy infographic that explains what it does — and, indirectly, why Google was likely interested in it.
Conclusively, bringing Incentive Targeting into the fold gives Google access to all the data Incentive Targeting has been accumulating about consumer behavior since it entered the marketplace. The startup touts its approach as unique and more profitable because it only charges for redeemed offers, which is supposed to reduce the risk for advertisers. The company has said that its original vision was inspired by Google’s approach.
Thus far, Incentive Targeting’s primary focus has been on grocery store chains. The Massachusetts company had raised about $4 million from investors including LaunchCapital and Hub Angels Investment Group, according to Crunchbase.