Discount juggernaut Walmart is essentially turning 100 of its stores into launch pads for its expanded drone delivery service that's set to be available in five new cities.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company, saying it's the first retailer "to scale" drone delivery across five states, will be offering the service in Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston; and Orlando and Tampa, both in Florida. Walmart is already providing drone delivery in Dallas-Fort Worth and its headquarters city.
Walmart is in a perpetual race to match e-commerce behemoth Amazon in terms of quick deliveries to consumers, and drones are part of that effort. Working with its partner, Wing, Walmart said it is getting goods to shoppers faster than ever using drones. Since launching that method of delivery in 2021, Walmart said it has completed more than 150,000 deliveries within minutes.
Walmart and Wing, owned by Google's parent, Alphabet, announced the drone expansion Thursday in separate statements.
"In total, we plan to expand Wing drone delivery to an additional 100 Walmart stores across selected markets," the drone operator said in its statement. "We’ll also be expanding to additional stores in Dallas-Fort Worth, where Wing and Walmart already serve customers from 18 Supercenters."
Scaling drone delivery
Walmart already has the largest drone delivery footprint of any U.S. retailer, according to Wing. Amazon has also dabbled in offering drone delivery in Texas and Arizona, but not to the extent that Walmart has.
“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 statement. “This expansion of our drone delivery service marks a significant milestone in that journey. As the first retailer to scale drone delivery, Walmart is once again demonstrating its commitment to leveraging technology to enhance our delivery offerings with a focus on speed.”
The new drone service will build on the existing operations in northwest Arkansas and Dallas-Fort Worth, according to Walmart. Wing operates within Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, flying its drones Beyond Visual Line of Sight, BVLOS, up to a 6-mile aircraft range from a store.
The five-city expansion comes 18 months after Wing and Walmart launched their first location together in fall 2023. Since then, they’ve expanded around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, covering a population area of nearly 2 million people, according to Wing.
"The popularity of drone delivery in DFW is a testament not just to its convenience, but to the way this technology quickly becomes a part of everyday life,” Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said in a statement.
Fresh fruit popular
For the drone service, a shopper confirms the precise delivery location, like a front or back yard, according to Wing. Then those items are packed into a specialized box before a Wing delivery drone takes off at the person's local Walmart store, retrieves the order and flies up to 65 mph to the customer's home. The drone then lowers the package to the ground.
Walmart's partnership with Wing isn't its only drone initiative in Dallas-Fort Worth. Earlier this year, Zipline launched its first-ever P2 drone site at Walmart stores in Mesquite and Waxahachie, Texas, according to the discounter.
Walmart said the most frequently drone-delivered products are fresh fruit, including bananas, lemons and limes, in addition to eggs, ice cream and pet food.
The discounter's efforts to speed up delivery beyond drones also include Express Delivery, which offers delivery in as little as 30 minutes, late-night delivery, and InHome Delivery, which can be delivered right to the refrigerator.