Walmart flies with Wing drone deliveries in Dallas
- August 29, 2023
- Steve Rogerson
Walmart has teamed up with Google sister company Wing to offer an on-demand drone delivery service from two stores in Dallas.
Walmart (corporate.walmart.com) started drone deliveries two years ago and is now offering it across seven states and 36 stores, completing more than 10,000 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,” said Prathibha Rajashekhar, senior vice president at Walmart. “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.”
The Walmart Supercenter at 8555 Preston Road in Frisco, Texas, will be the first to launch, joining the existing network of eleven 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. The second store will be operational before the end of the year.
Customers will be able to order items such as frozen treats, household essentials, last-minute meal options such as macaroni and cheese, and even fragile items such as eggs.
“Working with Wing directly aligns with our passion for finding innovative and eco-friendly last-mile delivery options to get customers the items they want, when they want them,” said Rajashekhar. “With drones that can fly beyond visual line of sight, we’re able to unlock on-demand delivery for customers living within an approximate six-mile [9.6km] range of the stores that offer the service. 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.”
Shannon Nash, chief financial officer at Wing (wing.com), added: “This is a major milestone for Wing, as we continue down our path towards building capabilities to support some of the most significant delivery operations in the world. Our technology is designed to complement existing delivery offerings, making overall systems more efficient and able to meet real customer needs.”