The Retail Exec (BWZ) | English | One-hour delivery, explained: how instant retail works, for executives deciding whether to compete on it.
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5. Drone and robot delivery
Remember when Elon Musk said there would be more robots than humans? Well, in the shipping and delivery industry, he might be onto something. A growing number of businesses are experimenting with drones and robots for delivery, a trend that’s notably picking up in China.
It all started with the COVID lockdown when human delivery personnel were off the grid and for locations under strict quarantine, like hotels for international travelers. A friend of mine had quite the experience when a robot became her daily meal delivery guy while she was under mandatory quarantine during a trip to China. It’s fair to say that she was taken aback by the futuristic room service.
According to the data, Alibaba Group’s fleet of autonomous robots had successfully delivered over 10 million packages by the end of March 2022. Concurrently, JD.com has rolled out close to 400 self-driving delivery vehicles across more than 25 cities in China, providing an efficient delivery solution in scenarios from residential areas and business centers to university campuses and supermarkets.