Walmart recently announced that it has begun a partnership with Wing to provide drone delivery services. The retail giant plans to offer the service from two stores in the Dallas metro area.
The big box retailer has already been using drones to deliver items to customers for a considerable amount of time. The company began drone delivery service in North Texas in December of last year, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Walmart officials said in a press release that its partnership with Wing, one of several drone manufacturing companies, will allow them to provide service to an additional 60,000 homes in the DFW area.
“Working with Wing directly aligns with our passion for finding innovative and eco-friendly last-mile delivery solutions to get customers the items they want, when they want them,” said the company in a press release. “With drones that can fly beyond visual line of sight, we’re able to unlock on-demand delivery for customers living within an approximate 6-mile range of the stores that offer the service.”
“First and foremost – it means a whole lot more of you are going to be able to access the service. The number one question we get from folks around the Dallas area is when drone delivery will be available at THEIR homes,” said Shannon Nash, chief financial officer, in a release from Wing. “In the short term, this news means there will be two additional Wing service areas in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro.”
The company announced that the supercenter in Frisco, located at 8555 Preston Rd., will be the first to launch, becoming the 12th drone operating Walmart in the metroplex. Nash explained that this location was its “most-requested expansion area” since its launch at another facility in western Frisco in 2021.
Customers may download the Wing app to determine if their homes are in the delivery range.
“This is a major milestone for Wing, as we continue down our path toward building capabilities to support some of the most significant delivery operations in the world,” said Nash. “Our technology is designed to complement existing delivery offerings, making overall systems more efficient and able to meet real customer needs.”