Drones have gained significant popularity in the last few decades due to their implementation in various areas. Drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or Flying Mini Robots, have penetrated multiple areas of performance that seemed almost impossible before.
Drones were intended to be used for defense purposes, and however, they have expanded their areas of implementation over time. The eCommerce industry is also evolving with time, along with the implementation of cutting-edge technological innovations.
Thanks to the latest technological advancements, online shopping has never been so convenient as easy before. Buying a product is just a click away, for example, one can conveniently find and purchase products through Facebook Shops & Instagram Feed while scrolling social media.
Latest AI-aided drones are capable enough to make clever decisions about flight plans, weight distribution, path analysis and much more autonomously. Provided here is a 360-degree-perspective on the implementation of drones in eCommerce businesses, including its benefits, disadvantages, future challenges, and examples.
Drone Delivery System in eCommerce – The Real Picture
Implementing drones in eCommerce for deliveries is one such clever commercial usage of drones for many reasons. In fact, according to Forbes, it is found to be 90% cheaper than the traditional delivery method.
According to one prediction, the commercial drone market will reach $15 billion in 2022. Some of the leaders such as Amazon and Walmart have already started working on the commercial advantages of this novel technological innovation. Amazon announced prime air in 2013 that can deliver products weighing up to 5 pounds within 30 minutes through drones. However, it is still a concept and yet to be materialized.
The First Drone Delivery: Ever wondered about the first successful drone delivery? Well, it was a delicious pizza delivered by Domino’s Pizza to a couple in New Zealand back in 2016. Domino’s claimed that the pizzas touched the backyard of the destination, which was 20 miles away from the restaurant in just 5 minutes.
In October 2019, FedEx, in collaboration with Wing Aviation, announced a successful drone-based delivery in American history. The drone completed a scheduled delivery of a Winter vest to a family in Christiansburg, Virginia.
There are many such instances of usage of drones for delivering medicines and essentials during the upsurge of Covid-19 around the world. However, implementing a fully autonomous drone-based delivery system still has a long way to go.
Table of Contents
Drone Delivery in eCommerce – Future Challenges
Drone delivery is indeed the future of logistics in eCommerce businesses. However, this novel technological implementation has a lot to overcome to come true. Provided here are some of the challenges it may face in the near future.
Impact of Weather
Dynamic changes in the weather are inevitable, and the drones may not find it easy to overcome the challenges coming with them. A weather change can have a severe effect on drone deliveries. In the most critical cases, it can be difficult for the drones to fly and carry out their mission. Several factors can affect drone deliveries. For instance, drones may find it challenging to fly in windy and blustery weather conditions. Also, during dry times, the air density drops significantly, making it harder for the drones to lift.
Transmission Lines
The transmission power lines have always been a matter of concern for aviation agencies. Drones use cutting edge technologies such as Lidar to navigate safely along the delivery path. However, more or less, there is still a possibility that these tiny automated flying bots may fail to detect power transmission lines and hit them in bad weather conditions.
Legal Issues
Drones may require legal permission to operate and fulfill the delivery of the orders in most of the areas. Getting a drone delivery license is not easy, provided the public risk is associated with it. Also, some lawmakers have strongly disregarded the use of drones to deliver packages in their areas.
Moreover, the delivery agency can also end up in a lawsuit in case of any public damage.
Package Safety
Drones are not totally infallible. Moreover, there exists a possibility that the package can end up in the wrong hands. The bad boys can see the drone flying up in the air and can follow it and wait for it to descend to steal the package.
Limited Coverage
Drones can only deliver packages in specific ranges. Usually, eCommerce store owners have a single warehouse, making it impossible for the small eCommerce business owners to provide drone deliveries to cover a wide range of regions.
The eCommerce store owners might require to set up multiple warehouses or stores in different regions to offer drone delivery in various areas.
Benefits of Drone Delivery in eCommerce
Drone delivery systems are not sci-fi things anymore. Package delivery by a flying bot is real, and we will indeed witness hundreds of drones flying above us on a sunny day.
Many market leaders are working on implementing this innovative drone delivery system in eCommerce round the clock. The key benefits of implementing a drone delivery service in eCommerce are provided below.
Faster & Efficient Delivery
Drones can cut down the time it takes to deliver the packages within the city, and they guarantee faster and efficient package delivery to the destination bypassing the traffic congestions. Moreover, it can also automatically choose the quickest delivery route through artificial intelligence.
Reduced Resources & Cost
The eCommerce store owners can deliver more products with less resources using the drone delivery systems. Multiple drones can be handled by a controlling center with a lesser human effort through automation, and it can cut down the cost of delivery by a major portion.
Eco-Friendly
Drones are energy-efficient and thus reduce carbon footprints. These energy-efficient flying bots emit a negligible amount of greenhouse gas compared to other transport systems and thus enhance environmental sustainability.
Cover Remote Areas
Unlike other traditional transportation systems, drones can deliver to remote locations which can not be accessed otherwise. For instance, it can deliver packages to a person living above the mountain or on an island isolated by water bodies.
Improved Customer Experience
People love receiving their packages of deliveries through the air! Drone delivery in eCommerce can improve the customer experience with excitement and quick delivery. It can also add to why your customers would love to purchase again from you and improve the customer retention rate.
Final Words
Drone delivery in eCommerce is indeed the future of logistics and transportation. However, there are some challenges it needs to overcome in the near future to succeed. The benefits of using drone deliveries in eCommerce will surely be worth the efforts.
It will be a win-win situation for both the customers and store owners with lightning-fast deliveries at reduced delivery costs. The days are not far when drones will be the primary ways of delivering products to the customers’ doorsteps for the eCommerce businesses.