Google said today it has begun showing restaurant discounts on its Google Maps application in India as the giant Mountain View works to expand its growing reach and relevance in one of its key foreign markets.
The company today released an update to add three new features to the Google Maps application in India. Users can now see a new "offers" option on the "Explore tab" that will display the promotional offers of local restaurants.
Google said it has partnered with EazyDiner. A table reservation platform, to show offers from more than 4,000 restaurants. The film is live in 11 metropolitan cities of India.
The restaurants are just the beginning
The restaurant offers are just the beginning. Since the company plans to dye agreements with more partners and expand them to more categories in the future, he said.
Users can also reserve a table in a restaurant directly from the Maps application. Google did not disclose the financial agreement it had with EazyDiner. A five-year-old company based in New Delhi that has raised more than 13 million dollars to date.
The new offer arrives as Google explores ways to earn more money with Google Maps. The company maintains a Google Maps platform for business customers and has increased its access price over the years. But it has not yet significantly monetized the part of the service aimed at consumers.
As part of today's announcement, the company has also renewed the "Explore tab" in India to "reflect the rich diversity of neighborhoods and local communities." So said Krish Vitaldevara and Chandu Thota, directors of Google Maps, in a blog post.
As part of the fresh paint job, Google said it has added shortcuts to give users a quick navigation to restaurants, ATMs, stores, hotels, pharmacies and, of course, offers.
Google Maps also indicates which are the most important cities
In addition, there is also an option on the Explore tab to get directions to the most important areas of each city. The company said it uses machine learning to identify these areas. "In addition to your own city, you can also search for other Indian cities simply by searching for the name of the city. An easy way to catch up before traveling, "wrote Vitaldevara and Thota.
The third characteristic, called «For You». It shows personalized recommendations for new restaurants and other fashionable places. Users in India can now also follow a business and get updates and news about the events.
«This function also uses the score of 'Your match'. It uses machine learning to combine what we know about millions of places with the information you have added. Restaurants that you have valued, cuisines that you have liked and places you have visited.
The first time you use this function, you can select the areas / locations that interest you and obtain more personalized and relevant recommendations over time, "the executives wrote.
Google will continue to grow
Google continues to expand its map offerings in India. In recent months, the possibility of checking if a taxi leaves the usual route has been added. You can also search in real time the status of trains and buses, among other features.
The company, which has accumulated more than 300 million users in India. He continues to use the country as a test bank for many of his services. This approach has helped Google, which operates the Android mobile operating system that runs on 98% of smartphones in India, to obtain widespread adoption in the country.