Amazon has reached an unmatched pinnacle for Same-Day Delivery, as now the e-retail leader has officially completed its’ first drone delivery.
Fox News released an article discussing the first delivery for Amazon Prime Air via drone in Cambridge, England. It appears that drones won’t be used to shipping any heavy items. The delivery comprised of an Amazon Fire TV and some popcorn, which weighed less than 5 pounds. The total time of delivery was only 13 minutes, which is beyond impressive, but revolutionary. Amazon says that drones will only take 30 minutes to deliver its’ packages. In light of what most retailers do in their shipping time frames, 30 minutes will shift many shoppers to getting their items online, instead of stores.
Globally, we are already seeing glimpses of how attractive online retail is becoming. For example, China’s mall traffic decreased in as more November, being that wealthier shoppers are saving their time and enjoy the level of convenience it brings. This is during the busiest shopping season of the year, which is consistently the most profitable season for malls. In contrast, China’s largest e-retailer Alibaba, made $18 billion in one day. Alibaba doesn’t use drones, but does have a robust online retail operation, even offering a same-day delivery option.
Amazon is the largest e-retailer in the US and is expanding at a high rate, utilizing fast delivery options to attract customers as well. Amazon Prime is a free service in a total of 27 major US cities, which include cities like San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Seattle-Tacoma, Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston, New York, Chicago, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Washington DC, Nashville, Raleigh, Tucson, Atlanta, Orlando, and Tampa. Amazon has even crossed borders, venturing into Canada and has launched free same-day delivery in Toronto and Vancouver as well.
“One day, seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road,” Amazon says. It appears inevitable that Amazon will be using drones in every major city in the US, eventually worldwide. This means drone delivery will cross over into other industries and more business will be found following the pattern of success by Amazon. The question is how will it affect physical stores and will they make the adjust into moving product via e-commerce. It’s clear that every business will have to begin putting a heavier focus on convenience shopping and meeting the demand of it.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tweeted the success of the retailer’s first drone flight, which actually took place on December 7th. It was guided by GPS and flies no higher than 400 feet. It was noted that Amazon is very careful with its’ drones use in inclement weather, such as no flying them in rain, snow, or ice, as well as flying in separate air spaces to avoid planes. The article also mentioned that Amazon only has a few customers in the UK that is privy to using them, yet, the e-retail giant hopes to expand to a larger demographic there.
To keep pace with fast delivery, companies can partner with a Same-Day Courier like 1-800 Courier to implement a same-day logistics solutions quickly. The San Diego Courier has a national footprint and able to deliver in major US cities for retailers, as they compete with Amazon.
Reference: 12.14.16, Fox News, Lulu Chang, From high-flying dream to reality: Amazon fulfills its first order using a drone
