Retail pharmaceutical giant Walgreens is partnering with Alphabet’s Wing to deliver goods via drones.
The service will initially be launched in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A co-located operation will be established in the store’s parking lot and will serve parts of the city of Frisco and town of Little Elm.
One of the most exciting use cases for drones is the rapid delivery of critical goods to emergency scenes and rural areas. In a promo video, Walgreens shows a first aid kit being ordered for an injured mountain biker and delivered by drone.
The service is part of a new model from Wing to help it expand across densely-populated metro areas in the US.
As part of the new model, drones will be supplied in small containers – that act as little hangars – and retail stores can deploy as many as needed from their parking lots, roofs, or similar appropriate locations.
“Walgreens continues to explore partnerships to transform and modernize our customer experience and we are proud to be the first retailer in the US to offer an on-demand commercial drone delivery option with Wing,” said Vish Sankaran, CIO at Walgreens Boots Alliance.
“With a customer-led focus, we continue to create differentiated shopping experiences that provide the products and services consumers need wherever, whenever and however they may want them.
“This is the kind of omni-channel partnership and offering that can redefine convenience for our customers and communities – delivering items to homes in minutes, not hours or days.”
(Image Credit: Wing)
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