Coles and Wing take to the skies above the Gold Coast in new expansion of drone delivery service

From the second of November, residents in the suburbs of Ormeau, Ormeau Hills, and Yatala can look to the sky for their weekly shop. Gold Coast customers are now able to have groceries delivered to their door in around ten minutes via drone delivery service in a partnership between Coles and Wing. The initiative has expanded as a result of a pilot programme in Canberra in March 2022. Customers can enjoy a limited selection of 500 popular grocery items offered by Coles Ormeau Village.

Wing is aiming to take over the skies with its innovative on-demand drone delivery service. The company services three continents with an ever expanding army of delivery drones. With ten years of tests and trials, Wing claims drone delivery saw a 600 percent increase in deliveries over the previous year. This momentum is looks set to increase in altitude with various major global partnerships and expansion initiatives in the pipeline.

Coles is Australia’s first major supermarket to adopt this tech. “This new service reinforces our commitment to enhancing the way our customers shop,” states Coles Head of Network Development and Customer Delivery James Geddes. Coles has been looking beyond traditional services and honing in on e-commerce experiences with a series of online focused initiatives with a vision to enhance sustainability. The vision behind the tech oriented move comes from an “ambition to be Australia’s most sustainable supermarket by continuing to reduce the number of trucks on the road,” Geddes states. Swapping out diesel trucks for lightweight battery operated drones is a way to reduce carbon emissions, while driving customers toward online shopping and Coles’ new subscription service. The infrastructure to host these drones was readily available in the car park of Coles Ormeau Village, further reducing environmental impact (and costs).

While the concept of a sustainable, drone-run future is utopian in its vision, the novelty of a flying robot delivering your milk and bread is the real draw here. Watch this space as drone delivery services expand, are they here to stay? What happens when they lose their novelty and become as commonplace as a seagull flying above us? From avoiding bird droppings to flying milk jugs, the future is here.

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