(Credit: Walmart)
Walmart is expanding its drone deliveries to millions of potential customers in five new cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa.
With this expansion, Walmart’s drone deliveries are now available in seven cities, adding to existing operations in Dallas and Bentonville. It also makes Walmart the first retailer to scale airborne deliveries across five US states.
“We’re pushing the boundaries of convenience to better serve our customers, making shopping faster and easier than ever before,” says Walmart SVP Greg Cathey.
(Credit: Walmart)Walmart began drone deliveries in 2021 and teamed up with Alphabet-owned drone delivery provider Wing in 2023. Wing “operates within FAA guidelines and flies its drones up to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) up to a 6-mile aircraft range from the store,” Walmart says.
With the latest expansion, Wing’s drones will take off from 100 Walmart stores and deliver orders within 30 minutes. If you are in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, check your area’s eligibility on wing.com/dfw. If you are in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, or Tampa, sign up on Wing’s website to get notified when the service launches in your area.
Drone deliveries were operational in Tampa before as well, but Walmart shut down operations in the Florida city, as well as Phoenix and Salt Lake City, last year to focus on improving in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
Walmart customers can get groceries, health and wellness products, household essentials, and more delivered by a drone. Since launching the drone service, the retailer has completed 150,000 deliveries. Some of the most ordered items include bananas, lemons, limes, Great Value eggs, ice cream, and pet food.
Amazon also offers drone deliveries through its Prime Air program but operates in fewer cities than Walmart. Currently, Prime Air is operational only in College Station, Texas, and the West Valley of the Phoenix, Arizona, metro area. The e-commerce giant is expected to test a new mode of delivery involving humanoid robots soon.