Retail technology innovation of the week: Walmart makes drone delivery a reality for customers
Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a new series from RTIH highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives.
Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, in the run up to the publication of the 2024 report early next year.
So far, we’ve showcased work being done by Ocado Retail, Decathlon, Lacoste, Downtown Spirits, TalkShopLive, Huck’s and Rovertown.
And now we’re focusing on Walmart.
The US retail giant is teaming up with Alphabet owned Wing to offer drone delivery from two stores in the Dallas area in the coming months, adding to its existing footprint of 11 hubs in Texas.
“Two years ago, we embarked on a journey to make the convenience of drone delivery a reality for our customers. Over that time we’ve grown to offer it across seven states and 36 stores, completing more than 10,000 safe deliveries,” says Prathibha Rajashekhar, SVP Innovation & Automation, Walmart U.S.
“We’re now continuing that momentum by teaming up with Wing, an on-demand drone delivery provider powered by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. The service will be offered from two stores in the Dallas metro area in the coming months, enabling us to reach an additional 60,000 homes.”
Rajashekhar adds: “Working with Wing directly aligns with our passion for finding innovative and eco-friendly last mile delivery solutions to get customers the items they want, when they want them.”
“With drones that can fly beyond visual line of sight, we’re able to unlock on-demand delivery for customers living within an approximate six mile range of the stores that offer the service.”
The Walmart Supercenter at 8555 Preston Road in Frisco will be the first to launch.
Customers will be able to download the Wing app from the App Store or Google Play and enter their address to determine if their home is within the Wing drone delivery range.
If so, they will be able to order items like frozen treats, household essentials, last minute meal solutions like macaroni and cheese, and fragile items like eggs.
Rajashekhar concludes: “This is an exciting next step for our customers, as it provides even more access to a convenient, innovative and - most importantly - super speedy way to get the items they need. The outlook is clear for drone delivery: the sky really is the limit.”
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