Walmart is planning to do something extraordinary as they are going to begin to fly drones to assist them in making home deliveries, making pick-ups, and various warehouse tasks. So the question begs, will this lead to anything and what exactly could these drones become?
The Details
It has been reported that Walmart has indeed started using these drones to do services indoors. Walmart has reported that they have been using these drones to drop off products in Walmart car parks for customers to collect and they have also been used to inspect digital tags on trucks at Walmart warehouses to in order to check what the trucks contain.
Walmart also has reported that direct deliveries to customers homes could potentially be attempted once the permissions of the residents of the flight path have been granted. Also, Walmart’s application might suggest that they dispatch the drones from trucks in the area and not directly from distribution centers. Walmart is also not the only company to work with delivery drones and the most notable is Amazon. Amazon is one of Walmart’s biggest competitors and Amazon previously using these drones might have influenced Walmart’s decision to test delivery drones.
The Unique Possibilities that Await
Walmart is extremely excited about this opportunity and some of their personnel have spoken out on the possibilities that await. Walmart spokesman Dan Toporek stated that drones have a lot of potential to connect our stores, distribution centers, fulfillment centers and transportation fleets. Toporek went on to say how there is a Walmart within five miles of 70% of the US population, which is an absolutely unbelievable statistic, and this would create some amazing possibilities for serving customers with these drones. Andrew Milroy, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan, mentioned how he sees that Walmart is trying to compete with Amazon with this ordeal.
Milroy stated that this alone shows that Walmart is competing head-to-head with Amazon, looking for ways to supply chains more efficiently and ways of improving customer service. This revelation has a seemingly endless ceiling and could propel Walmart to another atmosphere of success. Not only for Walmart, but for any other companies who decide to try delivery drones. Who knows, this could eventually end up being one of the most reliable devices in the retail business world.
