Google Wallet expanding with ChowNow partnership

Google Wallet has been relaunched in an attempt from the search engine giant to try and get back in the saddle, a saddle already crowded by Samsung Pay and Apple Pay. Google Wallet is Google’s own mobile payment system which functions in a different way than Apple Pay, rather more similarly to Samsung’s alternative. Today, it was announced through a press release that ChowNow and Google Wallet have become partners in crime and will take the restaurant world by storm.

Apple Pay has quite a few deals with banks, retailers and pharmacies across the U.S. and not only, but it looks like Google Wallet will be emphasizing entertainment, restaurants, bars and hangouts more than it will banks and other official places and retail stores. The partnership with ChowNow suggests that a couple of thousand small restaurants across the United States will feature Google Wallet payments within their shops.

Favoring smaller businesses might not seem like the best strategy from a multinational company like Google, but in the long term, it might pay off better than the few hundred partnerships Apple has with big businesses across the world. Moreover, if Google Wallet will be available in such small businesses, too, it might drive consumers towards them, if not out of curiosity, then out of convenience. ChowNow has been around for three years now, providing a link between customers and restaurants. Users of the app can benefit from promotions, coupons, online orders and starting today, Google Wallet integration.

If you are a ChowNow user, you might have already seen an update coming in, a small one, free of charge. Once installed, you will be able to link up with Google Wallet and sync credit card information, gift cards and coupons through the ordering platform. As Google Wallet tries to gain popularity against competition, the partnership with ChowNow will eventually prove to be a winning choice for both parties.