Coles launches Australia’s first store-to-door drone delivery

In cooperation with Wing, the retailer will offer customers the option to receive their products at their homes delivered by autonomous aircrafts.

Coles will become Australia’s first major retailer to offer drone delivery directly from a store to customers' homes. The brand has partnered with Wing, a U.S. based manufacturer of autonomous aircrafts, to launch a service together in South East Queensland next month, the first one to be deployed in the Gold Coast region.

From Wednesday 2 November, customers in the Gold Coast suburbs will be able to receive delivery in minutes, directly from the Coles store at Ormeau Village Shopping Centre. The service will gradually expand to include other nearby suburbs, delivering 500 of the brand’s most popular grocery items including bread, fresh produce, convenience meals, snacks, health care items, and household essentials.

This is an expansion of the “store-to-door” operating model that Wing has deployed in Dallas, Texas, and an evolution of the rooftop-based service in nearby Logan City. Co-location with retail locations makes it easier and less expensive to scale drone delivery in densely populated urban and suburban environments, where real estate available for infrastructure is limited.

The Coles drone delivery expansion into Queensland follows a successful pilot program launched in Canberra earlier this year, where Coles co-located its products at its partner’s drone delivery facility.