Walmart and Wing expand drone delivery to five more US cities

Wing, the drone delivery service under Alphabet, is embarking on a major expansion in collaboration with Walmart. On Thursday, the companies revealed their plans to introduce drone delivery to over 100 Walmart locations across five additional cities, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa. Additionally, Walmart is enhancing its service in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by incorporating Wing deliveries. This move underscores Walmart’s increasing trust in drone technology as a viable retail delivery solution. Greg Cathey, senior vice president of Walmart’s U.S. Transformation and Innovation, emphasized that drone delivery is integral to the company's mission to transform retail. 'We’re pushing the boundaries of convenience to better serve our customers, making shopping faster and easier than ever before,' Cathey stated in a blog post. This expansion represents a significant milestone for Wing, transitioning from a pilot project to a robust commercial operation. Having partnered with Walmart in 2023, Wing initially tested its service at two stores in the Dallas area, reaching around 60,000 homes, and has since expanded to 18 Supercenters in the region. The latest announcement marks nearly a five-fold increase in Wing’s collaboration with Walmart. 'We’re decidedly out of the pilot and trial phase and into scaling up this business,' Wing CEO Adam Woodworth told TechCrunch. He highlighted that insights gained from the Dallas-Fort Worth pilot have shaped Wing's strategy for retail drone delivery. 'We figured out how the expansion worked out and looked in DFW, and now we’re sort of copy-pasting that across more markets,' Woodworth explained. While he did not disclose profitability figures or timelines, he emphasized the company's focus on efficiently scaling operations. Wing's approach revolves around utilizing small, lightweight, automated drones, aiming to manage operational costs effectively while increasing delivery volumes. 'The more places you can be operating, the more you can be flying, the more you can defray those costs. This is a meaningful step in that direction,' he added. Beyond retail, Wing is also venturing into food delivery through its partnership with DoorDash, having launched services in Australia in 2022 and recently expanding to Dallas-Fort Worth and Charlotte.