Over the past few years, more and more Aussie shoppers have relied on delivery services for their groceries. We’re sure many of us are already familiar with online ordering and the excitement of your purchase arriving.

However, it seems that delivery drivers may be out of a job soon. Instead, groceries purchased from Coles will be delivered via drone!

Coles to offer drone delivery in Australia. Credit: 9News/Wing.​

Coles is taking their customer service to the skies as they recently announced their latest offering: drone delivery!

In a partnered deal with global on-demand drone delivery service, Wing, the supermarket giant is conducting a trial for customers in select ACT suburbs.

The drone delivery pilot will be available to customers in the suburbs of: Crace (2911), Palmerston (2913), Franklin (2913), Harrison (2914), Mitchell (2911), Giralang (2617), and Kaleen (2617).

The drone delivery is aiming to fly the groceries to shoppers’ homes after they order online, with the packages expected to arrive in as little as ten minutes!

Once the drone arrives at the customer's address, it will hover in the air and slowly lower the package to the ground. Talk about contactless delivery!

However, not all products available in Coles supermarkets will be available for drone delivery. Some of the items available are bread, fresh produce, snacks, kitchen essentials, toilet paper, and healthcare items such as medicine and rapid antigen kits.

More than 250 Coles grocery items will be made available for delivery by drone. Credit: 9News/Wing.​

Ben Hassing, the chief executive of eCommerce at Coles, said the adoption of drones will not only allow customers to shop anytime and anywhere, but will also reduce the workload currently placed on delivery workers.

He added that the new service will have no minimum spend and no additional delivery fees. There will be time constraints though, with drone deliveries operating only between 8 am and 4:30 pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and 9 am to 4 pm on Sundays.

And if you’re curious about whether the drones will fly the groceries straight from Coles supermarkets, the answer is: no, they will not.

Instead, they will come from a hub in Canberra which has been stocked up with 250 of the supermarket's top-selling items.

Customers can order these items through the Wing app, and once the orders are ready, the drones are then sent up into the air, and flown to their delivery address using automated technology.

Wing will have pilots personally monitoring the drones using a system that maps the routes and schedules of flights.

Many customers rely on delivery services to get their groceries. Credit: 9News/Wing.​

Professor Rico Merkert, a supply chain expert at Sydney University, said the idea of drones doing more than deliveries could take off widely in the next five years.

“I think this is what the future will look like, and it's obviously not just happening in Australia, although Australia has been at the forefront,” he said.

And even though at the moment, there are still lots of logistical hurdles and privacy concerns regarding drone delivery services, it looks like a good direction for retail companies to be heading in.

What are your thoughts? Do you like the idea of drone delivery services? Let us know in the comments below!

 

[Ricci]

I order a weeks worth of groceries at a time. Does that mean that I would get split deliveries, 1 via the drones and the rest by the friendly delivery drivers?

 

[Mars]

If you ordered 4 bags of groceries would you have 4 drones arriving all at the same time

 

[Benw]

Coles offering Australia-first delivery service via drones!​

Over the past few years, more and more Aussie shoppers have relied on delivery services for their groceries. We’re sure many of us are already familiar with online ordering and the excitement of your purchase arriving.

However, it seems that delivery drivers may be out of a job soon. Instead, groceries purchased from Coles will be delivered via drone!

Coles to offer drone delivery in Australia. Credit: 9News/Wing.​

Coles is taking their customer service to the skies as they recently announced their latest offering: drone delivery!

In a partnered deal with global on-demand drone delivery service, Wing, the supermarket giant is conducting a trial for customers in select ACT suburbs.

The drone delivery pilot will be available to customers in the suburbs of: Crace (2911), Palmerston (2913), Franklin (2913), Harrison (2914), Mitchell (2911), Giralang (2617), and Kaleen (2617).

The drone delivery is aiming to fly the groceries to shoppers’ homes after they order online, with the packages expected to arrive in as little as ten minutes!

Once the drone arrives at the customer's address, it will hover in the air and slowly lower the package to the ground. Talk about contactless delivery!

However, not all products available in Coles supermarkets will be available for drone delivery. Some of the items available are bread, fresh produce, snacks, kitchen essentials, toilet paper, and healthcare items such as medicine and rapid antigen kits.

More than 250 Coles grocery items will be made available for delivery by drone. Credit: 9News/Wing.​

Ben Hassing, the chief executive of eCommerce at Coles, said the adoption of drones will not only allow customers to shop anytime and anywhere, but will also reduce the workload currently placed on delivery workers.

He added that the new service will have no minimum spend and no additional delivery fees. There will be time constraints though, with drone deliveries operating only between 8 am and 4:30 pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and 9 am to 4 pm on Sundays.

And if you’re curious about whether the drones will fly the groceries straight from Coles supermarkets, the answer is: no, they will not.

Instead, they will come from a hub in Canberra which has been stocked up with 250 of the supermarket's top-selling items.

Customers can order these items through the Wing app, and once the orders are ready, the drones are then sent up into the air, and flown to their delivery address using automated technology.

Wing will have pilots personally monitoring the drones using a system that maps the routes and schedules of flights.

Many customers rely on delivery services to get their groceries. Credit: 9News/Wing.​

Professor Rico Merkert, a supply chain expert at Sydney University, said the idea of drones doing more than deliveries could take off widely in the next five years.

“I think this is what the future will look like, and it's obviously not just happening in Australia, although Australia has been at the forefront,” he said.

And even though at the moment, there are still lots of logistical hurdles and privacy concerns regarding drone delivery services, it looks like a good direction for retail companies to be heading in.

What are your thoughts? Do you like the idea of drone delivery services? Let us know in the comments below!

I have worked with flying drones in the last few years, prior to retiring.
I am amazed that the drones are allowed to fly over residential areas as during my work CASA regulations set rules in regard to flying over people and residential areas??