This promotion is a clear attempt by Google to go after their main rival in e-commerce transactions, Paypal. At this point, Google checkout is based in US currency, but at some point they will start processing Canadian dollars as well.
So, as a Canadian, writing for Canadian businesses, why this particular post.
Simple, its a great opportunity for businesses to play with e-commerce. Many of my clients are Canadian businesses who actually sell products to the US or Internationally and we all know that the International currency is US funds. If there was ever a time to convert some of your existing traffic into sales, now is a good time to start.
The Google Checkout program is actually quite slick and is a fully integrated e-commerce solution in its basic form. If you happen to try out the service and make a few (or a lot) of sales before Christmas, let me know – I would be interested in your results.