To gauge how well it did in Portland last week, ClickZ News interviewed Jack Inglis, the owner of Floyd's Coffee Shop. He said some 1,708 vouchers were sold out of the 2,000 that were made available on the first day of availability.

Floyd’s Coffee Shop was the first business to feature 70 percent discount vouchers via Google Offers, according to media reports.

“Practically everyone coming through my door was talking about it,” Inglis said about the marketing promotion on the first day. “It was jaw-dropping. I was amazed how quickly the information got around.”

Google Offers is being presented as a strong rival to Groupon – a well-known social coupon service. Google Offers had tried to acquire Groupon in 2010, but that attempt failed.

It took Google about a year to go live with Google Offers.

Here is how Google Offers works. Google puts a business’s “offer in front of thousands of potential buyers in your area,” according to the site’s website. The site helps a business by finding customers and getting them to make it over to the business. Also, customers can pre-pay so businesses get paid just “a few days after your offer runs.”

“We do the heavy lifting so you can focus on welcoming your new customers and making sure they return,” explains Google Offers.

In a related matter, Blog.Indeed.Hits reports the daily deals sector is experiencing a “ton of activity.” For example, LivingSocial (News - Alert) acquired French site Dealissime.com last week. In addition, Groupon expanded a pilot for a mobile deal platform, called “GrouponNow,” from just Chicago to also include New York City and San Francisco.

In other Google news, TMCnet carried a story from The San Jose Mercury News that the Google Wallet payment service is being introduced in select markets.

With Google Wallet, “an Android (News - Alert) smartphone will become a credit card,” The Mercury News reports.

“Android can also become the first mass-market bridge between the virtual world and the physical world, allowing smartphone apps to control light bulbs, home appliances, and even medical devices,” the newspaper adds.

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