Drone Deliveries In Canberra Surge 500%

Wing, a drone delivery company that is owned by Alphabet, has been trialling its services in Canberra, and since February, the firm has recorded a 500% increase in its delivery volumes.

Customers can place orders on the Wing app to have goods delivered from third-party merchants that offer food, coffee and tea, hardware, chemists, pet supplies, homewares, and sports and fitness.

“We believe drone delivery will improve the way our cities operate by reducing road congestion and creating new economic opportunities for local businesses,” Wing says.

Wing is currently operating in the US, Finland, and Logan, QLD and Canberra, ACT in Australia.

Jonathan Bass, Head of Marketing and Communications at Wing, told The Australian: “As you can imagine, with more residents staying at home over the last several months, our deliveries have increased quite a bit, so they doubled from February to March and doubled again from March to April. And we have done thousands of deliveries since March 1 in Australia.”

“Food and beverage items remain the most popular, coffee is very popular, and we are delivering quite a few single rolls of toilet paper right now, hardware items, and other grocery items,” Bass said.

Retailers across the country have had to rely on online channels and home deliveries given the lower footfall during COVID-19 lockdowns. Wesfarmers, for instance, has announced that it will be channelling more investment into expanding its online capacity. Myer, David Jones and the Shaver Shop are other retailers that have witnessed substantial growth since COVID-19 pandemic.