Walmart reports having the largest drone delivery footprint

🛸 Walmart partners with Wing and Zipline for the largest drone delivery footprint

Walmart's strategic partnerships with drone providers Wing and Zipline have given the retail giant the crown of having the largest delivery footprint in the United States.

With an presence in over 30 towns in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and covering nearly 75% of the population, Walmart's drone delivery has both expanded its reach and the speed and efficiency of its services.

⌛️ 10-30 minutes drone deliveries

Through the capabilities of Wing and Zipline, Walmart's drone delivery system has a delivery time between 10 to 30 minutes at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour according to Fast Company.

Another advantages of Walmart's drone delivery system is its impressive weight capacity. The drones can carry up to 3 pounds of goods, allowing for the transportation of a wide range of products.

Over the past two years, Walmart proudly reports the successful completion of 20,000 drone deliveries as well.

💸 Amazon is working to expand on drones too

Amazon is also gearing up to expand its own drone delivery service in 2024 and is currently experimenting with drone deliveries for prescription medications in Texas

Moxii reported last year that Amazon uses its own tech to check if the ground is clear before dropping, addressing concerns about potential accidents or disruptions during the delivery process.

Amazon is collaborating with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to establish and comply to the regulations on the use of drones in residential areas.

Amazon's deal for a cleaning robot could get blocked

The WSJ reports that the European Commission, Europe’s antitrust enforcer, plans to block Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot during a meeting with the company’s representatives

Amazon was originally supposed to buy iRobot for $1.4 billion for $61 per share according to CNBC.

The preliminary investigation said that there’s a risk that Amazon buying iRobot means that rival products could be delisted or be shown less, restricting overall competition.

iRobot designs and builds smart robots like cleaning and educational robots. The deal was reportedly pitched in order to expand Amazon’s smart home products that included Amazon Alexa and Ring doorbell.

Instacart collabs with Google Shopping

🔍️ Instacart collabs with Google

Through the partnership, Google Shopping now shows the participating brands of Instacart on their results page. By using first-party data and closed-loop information sharing, Instacart is able to boost the visibility of participating brands during users' shopping journeys.

❓️ How it works

This works by Google Shopping showing buyers ads for products from participating brands while searching and browsing on Instacart. This collaboration opens the door for Instacart to tap into the nearly 1 billion daily shoppers of Google as reported by Retail Touchpoints.

Instacart's collaboration with Google both broadens its user base and provides an added incentive for customers through the inclusion of same-day delivery options.

Following an initial test phase, Instacart reports its pleasing results, especially on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like Return on Ad Spend and "New to Brand" sales.