Walmart expands drone delivery via partnership with Wing
Walmart is teaming up with Wing, an on-demand drone delivery provider powered by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. The announcement came in a post on Walmart’s website from Prathibha Rajashekhar, senior vice president of innovation and automation at Walmart U.S.
Noting that two years ago, Walmart embarked on a journey to make the convenience of drone delivery a reality for our customers, Rajashekhar said, “Over that time, we’ve grown to offer it across seven states and 36 stores, completing more than 10,000 safe deliveries. Today, we’re 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 said that working with Wing directly aligns with Walmart’s “passion for finding innovative and eco-friendly last-mile delivery solutions to get customers the items they want, when they want them.” Rajashekhar added, “With drones that can fly beyond visual line of sight, we’re able to unlock on-demand delivery for customers living within an approximate 6-mile range of the stores that offer the service.”
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The Walmart Supercenter at 8555 Preston Road in Frisco, Texas, will be the first to launch, joining Walmart’s existing network of 11 drone hubs already operating in the Dallas area. Once operations begin, customers can 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. Customers will be able to order items like frozen treats, household essentials, last-minute meal solutions (such as macaroni and cheese) and even fragile items like eggs.
“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,” Rajashekhar concluded.
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