Walmart on Sept. 9 launched a second pilot drone delivery program, this time in Fayetteville, NC, using a control system from Israeli firm Flytrex, zipping grocery and household items to nearby customers. This is in addition to a program drone program Walmart launched in April in Grand Forks, ND, again with Flytrex.
Amazon has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate its delivery drones beyond visual line of sight of the pilot, removing a key roadblock to its eventual goal of deploying aerial fulfillment for Prime customers in less than a half hour.
Ware2Go, a UPS-owned provider of fulfillment on demand through partnership with warehouse owners, via an integration with Google Shopping, lets merchants offer free shipping early in the search and discovery process on Google, aimed at increasing conversion. Ware2Go handles fulfillment through its partner network.
Postmates is considering either an IPO or an acquisition by Uber to augment the latter’s own Uber Eats delivery services as its core ride hailing suffers during the pandemic, according to several media reports. The fourth largest U.S. food delivery service has also received a second offer from a special purpose acquisition company.
Amazon is in advanced talks to acquire self-driving car startup Zoox as it looks to expand its autonomous vehicle capabilities to address massive delivery costs, according to the Wall Street Journal. It has already invested heavily in autonomous technology, contributing to funding rounds for Aurora Innovation and Rivian Automotive LLC.
Here Technologies, a provider of location and mapping solutions for companies worldwide including UPS and FedEx, has created a free navigation app to help SMBs flipping to ecommerce optimize delivery routes by providing turn-by-turn navigation for multiple stop routes. The app has been tested by restaurants in Australia.
On the same day it was announced Deliv was winding down its operations this summer, it came out that Target is in talks to snap up some of Deliv’s technology assets to bolster its local ecommerce fulfillment and bring founding CEO Daphne Carmelli onboard, NBC reported. Others had reportedly been looking at Deliv, including grocers.
Israeli drone startup Flytrex has begun a pilot program making backyard deliveries from a Walmart in Grand Forks, ND to about a dozen nearby homes, looking to expand the program to further-out properties there in the months ahead while keeping to current FAA restrictions to line-of-sight piloting.
Ship from store and curbside pickup are not new to multichannel businesses, but many smaller ones are trying to implement this model, often without the infrastructure and systems in place to support it. Here’s what you need to do to set up streamlined, store-level picking and curbside fulfillment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Amidst the massive pivot to online during the coronavirus crisis, providers of last mile delivery services are seeing huge growth in demand from various kinds of merchants, as house-bound consumers are ordering away for both essential and nonessential items. Demand is coming from a variety of sources, including stores, SMBs and CPGs.