Tesco has launched its first grocery home shopping drone delivery trials, in partnership with Manna, the world’s first aviation-grade business-to-business drone delivery platform.
The trial, which will run for several months initially, will take place around Tesco’s Oranmore store in County Galway.
The project is being led by Tesco’s Group Innovation Team, a newly established team looking at working with partners on disruptive innovation in the retail space, the company said.
Tesco said that it is working with Manna to explore how drones can be part of the solution to deliver on-demand small baskets to customers.
Manna is operating as part of a trial and flight testing of a customer delivery drone service in the suburban community of Oranmore.
Catherine Swift, store manager, Tesco Oranmore. said: “We’re continually looking for new ways to serve our customers a little better and this trial is an opportunity to look at meeting demand for small basket shops and quick delivery.”
“We’re looking forward to seeing how our customers in the Oranmore area respond to the service.”
Speaking on the trial, operations director for Manna, Denis Houston said: “It is incredible to work with an innovative partner like Tesco on this trial and to be able to provide this delivery service to the community of Oranmore. It’s fantastic to see how innovation and new technologies like this helps all the community, both customers and local retailers.”
How It Works
Customers can order a delivery from Tesco by drone through a dedicated website, where an initial range of 700 products will be available.
The order is picked by a Tesco colleague in-store and delivery is managed by a Manna drone supervisor.
Customers can track their order in real-time and have their purchases within 30 minutes to one hour of ordering, Manna has a 3-minute delivery promise from once the items are loaded into the drone and users will be alerted when it is one minute away.
Orders will be fulfilled by drones between 9:30am – 5pm Tuesday - Sunday.
© 2020 Checkout Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Donna Ahern.
