Walmart is offering drone delivery for up to 75 percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth population. This will be the largest drone delivery footprint for any U.S. retailer.
The drone delivery expansion will include Walmart stores in over 30 towns and municipalities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. This move marks the first time a U.S. retailer has made drone delivery available to this many houses in one market.
Zipline marks one drone company Walmart utilizes for on-demand delivery.
To make this possible, Walmart will utilize two on-demand delivery providers: Wing and Zipline. Wing delivers packages from businesses to homes within minutes. The company uses a network approach to delivery that is comparable to efficient rideshares. Zipline is the world’s largest autonomous delivery company. It is used to make deliveries for restaurants, retailers, and health systems.
Walmart has trialed drone delivery over the past two years. During this time, they have completed more than 20,000 safe deliveries. The retailer has almost 4,700 stores located within 10 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population. This puts them in a prime position to scale for future drone-delivery demand.
Drones can deliver items to customers in 30 minutes or less. Some deliveries can happen in 10 minutes. Stores that offer drone service will have a delivery radius of up to 10 miles.
Walmart is offering drone delivery for up to 75 percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth population.
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, co-founder and CEO of Zipline, said, “We’re excited for folks across Dallas-Fort Worth to experience delivery that is 7x as fast, zero emissions and whisper quiet with our next-generation technology.”
