Glance Makes a Push into the United States

Recently, we have heard about the incredible run of success that the Glance Pay system had had so far in terms of preventing fraud, even if it wasn’t exactly the most widely-used system. Glance may well have understood that particular failing better than anyone realized, because it recently announced the start of a pretty big expansion effort in a bid to drive more users to the platform.

Half of this expansion effort came from the first new entry in the United States to take Glance Pay: Ta’Cul Mexican Cocina. A California restaurant that focuses, as the name suggests, on Mexican food, it doesn’t seem to be a particularly big first step, but any step is worth taking.

The expansion doesn’t stop there, however, as it’s also set up a new head office in the United States as well, focusing on Silicon Valley. With over 230 restaurants in Canada using Glance Pay, Glance has a real opportunity to branch out. Since Glance seems to be targeting restaurants, it has a chance to get in on some major expansions, since the United States restaurant market represents the better part of a trillion dollars annually, at $780 billion total.

Glance CEO Desmond Griffin noted “Our US expansion is key to our strategy of signing large North American restaurant chains. Silicon Valley is an ideal location for us to access the world’s premier high tech ecosystem as we continue to develop our technology.”

All accurate, of course, but there’s still one major problem: Glance Pay is a virtual unknown operating in a market where alternatives have been established for years in some cases and new standards are appearing daily. Glance Pay has to overcome the modern predilection to have only about three mobile payments systems in play at any given time, and that, at last report, does include individual business’ apps. So if someone’s got Apple Pay, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks right on their home screen, the chances of them adding Glance Pay to the mix are catastrophically low.

Glance is going to have to step up its game well beyond a new headquarters and one new restaurant if it ever hopes to compete in the United States. It should be interesting to see what it comes up with to try.