Walmart plans to start delivering items by drone in five major cities, the company announced Thursday from its new headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. The markets are Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston, Texas; and Orlando and Tampa, Florida.
The big picture: The expansion is the retailer’s latest move to tap technology to get goods to customers faster and easier, and it has real bottom line consequences for the retailer.
- “When we see a customer adopt fast delivery, their spend with Walmart doubles, and then when they use it four times, spend triples,” the company’s Chief Operating Officer Kieran Shanahan said Thursday.
The latest: Working with drone provider Wing, Walmart will launch the drone service at 100 stores, building on existing operations in Northwest Arkansas and Dallas-Fort Worth.
- Wing drones can fly up to 6 miles from their store.
Zoom in: The NWA service is now only available in Pea Ridge, via Zipline, a Walmart spokesperson told Axios.
- More NWA locations will come soon, but no details are yet available, she said.
Zoom out: Wing has a designation from the FAA allowing pilots to operate drones outside a human’s line-of-sight, which ultimately means they can deliver to a larger radius from a store and use fewer people.
Between the lines: The service will be free when customers order through the Wing app.
- Items weighing up to 2.5 pounds can be delivered, but Wing is working on doubling the payload capacity.
What they’re saying: “As we look ahead, drone delivery will remain a key part of our commitment to redefining retail,” Greg Cathey, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. Transformation and Innovation, said in a news release. “We’re pushing the boundaries of convenience to better serve our customers, making shopping faster and easier than ever before.”…