Tesco preps drone delivery pilot in Ireland
Tesco will next month trial grocery home deliveries with drones.
This will take place in Ireland, where the retailer’s partner Manna has a licence to operate.
It will focus on the delivery of a small number of grocery items, with deliveries made within 30 minutes to an hour of an order being made.
"We're really interested to see how drones could be part of the solution to deliver to our customers on-demand small baskets," says Group Innovation Director Claire Lorains.
"If our trial with Manna is successful, we really think there is an opportunity to reach many customers through our stores extending with a drones service.”
"They (Manna) have already proven the capability, the question is how do we take that capability and apply it to Tesco and that's the detail that's been worked on now before we get to the trial," adds Chief Executive Dave Lewis.
Walmart
Walmart also this week announced a drone delivery pilot.
Working with Flytrex, it has launched a trial in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with a focus on delivering select grocery and household essential items from Walmart stores. Further details here.