An idea for Google Analytics' Real Time API

On August 1, Google launched an API to access Real Time Analytics. The API allows one to programmatically retrieve the number of visitors interacting with a page at a given time through a series of dimensions (eg: a breakdown of a given set of metrics across common criteria) such as traffic sources, platform and device, geo information, page and app tracking.

A recent case study (PDF) published by Google reveals a relatively good but not particularly novel use of the this new API: a vacation rental company displays the number of active visitors on the page of a given property.

In doing this they give the illusion of scarcity, which encourages users to make a quick decision. You've seen something similar if you have ever booked a flight online – only 2 seats left at this price. It drives sales up.

I have an idea to leverage the power of community to drive sales: simply reduce the price of a product based on how many visitors there are on a page.

Let's imagine a functional scenario in which I am interested in buying a nice tea set. The online merchant who sells it has it priced at $100. But they also have this system where for every 10 people visiting the tea set product page at a given time, the price is dropped by $5 – with most likely a maximum discount.

What do I do? I tweet the product link to my network to get people to help me drive the price down. A few more text messages and some IM'ing and I earn 15% off on this item.

From an ecommerce shop owner's perspective, you've made one happy client and built direct brand awareness for 30 people, and maybe made another sale.