up in the air
Walmart picks Houston for expanded drone delivery service
Walmart is bringing drone delivery to Houston.
Coming soon to Houston-area skies: drones delivering Walmart purchases to customers.
The retailer is expanding its drone delivery service to five markets: Houston; Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Orlando, Florida; and Tampa, Florida.
Walmart already offers drone deliveries in Dallas-Fort Worth and Bentonville, Arkansas, where it’s based. In DFW, Walmart is adding supercenters to the region’s current 18-store lineup.
The drone service in the five new markets will launch at 100 Walmart supercenters. Walmart has yet to specify when the drone deliveries will begin in the new cities.
“As we look ahead, drone delivery will remain a key part of our commitment to redefining retail. We’re pushing the boundaries of convenience to better serve our customers, making shopping faster and easier than ever before,” said Greg Cathey, senior vice president of Walmart’s U.S. transformation and innovation arm.
Teaming up with drone provider Wing, Walmart delivers purchases to customers’ homes within a six-mile aircraft range of a store.
“This is real drone delivery at scale,” said Adam Woodworth, CEO of Wing, which is owned by Google’s parent company. “People all around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have made drone delivery part of their normal shopping habits over the past year. Now we’re excited to share this ultra-fast delivery experience with millions more people across many more U.S. cities.”
Today, Wing makes thousands of Walmart deliveries per week in the DFW and Bentonville markets, with an average order fulfillment time of less than 19 minutes.
In Houston and the other new markets, Walmart customers will be able to choose from thousands of items that can be sent via drone. Wing explains that before completing the checkout process on its delivery app, a Walmart customer can pinpoint a location for their delivery, such as their home’s front yard or backyard.
“Then your items will be packed into a specialized box before a Wing delivery drone takes off at your local Walmart store, retrieves the order, and then cruises up to 65 mph to your home. The drone then gently lowers the package to the ground just minutes after takeoff,” Wing says on its website.
To find out more about the availability of Walmart drone deliveries in the Houston area, visit wing.com/walmart.
