Retail giant Walmart says it is bringing the drone delivery ordering experience directly to its shopping app later this month. Customers can order thousands of items ranging from baby wipes to birthday candles via drone delivery and receive them in 30 minutes or less. In some cases, deliveries can take place as fast as 10 minutes.
Walmart has been trialing drone delivery since 202,1 and has completed over 30,000 drone deliveries safely to date. As of January this year, Walmart drone delivery has been available across more than 30 towns and municipalities in Texas’ Dallas Fort-Worth metroplex, covering up to 75% of the residents.
Shoppers have been placing orders through the websites of Walmart’s drone delivery partners all this while. But later this month, customers in the area will begin to be notified of the new ordering capability through the Walmart app if they are eligible for drone delivery based on the address associated with their account.
The integration will be done in phases as more drone delivery sites launch and drone providers receive additional regulatory approvals to fly more goods across greater distances.
One of Walmart’s delivery partners is Wing – a drone logistics firm owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet. Wing CEO Adam Woodworth says, “Our goal is to make drone delivery completely seamless for our partners and their customers. When Wing drone delivery is available within the Walmart app later this month, customers will have a wider selection and a better shopping experience than ever before. This is a major step toward making drone delivery a part of everyday life.”
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