Whether you’re receiving your padthaior weekly groceries from a car or a drone, American demand for door-drop dinners is only getting stronger.A recentfound that 40% of shoppers rank delivery services as amust-havefor food and groceries, and one in five say they’ll switch stores if delivery services aren’t available. Services like Instacart,UberEats, and Amazon Fresh are currently cleaning up in a huge, and growing, market. With the pandemic further heightening this demand,f.
Delivery services cut labor costs
The interest in meeting this consumer need with autonomous technology isdrivenlargelyby one very big expense: labor. Gómez says,“It’s a huge cost, and we’re facing pressure to increase minimum wage.” Luckily, grocery retailers have already been considering ways to save on the cost of salaries, he says. “Supermarkets are already looking to save on labor—they’re investing gradually in self-checkout, for example.” Gómez says that scarcity is also a factor. “Labor is not only expensive but hard to find, and people rotate out a lot—technology complements the efforts of the industry to rely less on labor.”
Of course,for all they may save on payroll, retailers will have significant investments to make in order to get their autonomous programs up and running—or flying.And it’s not yet clear how much of that cost can be reasonably passed on to consumers. Gómez cautions thatretailers“have to do cost-benefit analysis very well, to analyze how much their customers are willing to pay for the convenience.”
Sellers will also have to find ways to tackle the logistics of storing and packing goods prior to delivery, of course. Some are turning to streamlined “microfulfillment” centers to handle this, particularly in urban areas where real estate can be costly. New “dark stores” dedicated to online order fulfillmentcould fulfill autonomous deliveriestoo. On a larger scale, Amazon has filed patents for drone fulfillment centers in skyscrapers, as well as—though for now, the latter option remainspieinthesky.
Driverless delivery
So far, Gómez says, the least-expensive way to make quick neighborhood deliveries has been by autonomous vehicles. These are being piloted in several markets,. They’re operated remotelyand have a maximum speed of just 3 mph. Other vehicles, like those being piloted by Kroger, CVS,and Walmart, can travel up to 25 mphand look similar to scaled-down compact cars, though they don’t carry passengers. Developed by the California-based robotics companyNuro,isn’t required to meet traditional regulations for cars and trucks, thanks to a recent ruling.
Of course, autonomous deliveries can facethat go far beyond broken eggs and spilled milk. Both drones and driverless vehicles can struggle with stormy weather, and landing or parking can be difficult or impossible in crowded urban environments. That’s why most of the pilot programs have taken place in suburban and rural areas, where there’s ample room to maneuver and drop deliveries.
Whether you’re receiving your padthaior weekly groceries from a car or a drone, American demand for door-drop dinners is only getting stronger.A recentfound that 40% of shoppers rank delivery services as amust-havefor food and groceries, and one in five say they’ll switch stores if delivery services aren’t available. Services like Instacart,UberEats, and Amazon Fresh are currently cleaning up in a huge, and growing, market. With the pandemic further heightening this demand,f.
Delivery services cut labor costs
The interest in meeting this consumer need with autonomous technology isdrivenlargelyby one very big expense: labor. Gómez says,“It’s a huge cost, and we’re facing pressure to increase minimum wage.” Luckily, grocery retailers have already been considering ways to save on the cost of salaries, he says. “Supermarkets are already looking to save on labor—they’re investing gradually in self-checkout, for example.” Gómez says that scarcity is also a factor. “Labor is not only expensive but hard to find, and people rotate out a lot—technology complements the efforts of the industry to rely less on labor.”
Of course,for all they may save on payroll, retailers will have significant investments to make in order to get their autonomous programs up and running—or flying.And it’s not yet clear how much of that cost can be reasonably passed on to consumers. Gómez cautions thatretailers“have to do cost-benefit analysis very well, to analyze how much their customers are willing to pay for the convenience.”
Sellers will also have to find ways to tackle the logistics of storing and packing goods prior to delivery, of course. Some are turning to streamlined “microfulfillment” centers to handle this, particularly in urban areas where real estate can be costly. New “dark stores” dedicated to online order fulfillmentcould fulfill autonomous deliveriestoo. On a larger scale, Amazon has filed patents for drone fulfillment centers in skyscrapers, as well as—though for now, the latter option remainspieinthesky.
Driverless delivery
So far, Gómez says, the least-expensive way to make quick neighborhood deliveries has been by autonomous vehicles. These are being piloted in several markets,. They’re operated remotelyand have a maximum speed of just 3 mph. Other vehicles, like those being piloted by Kroger, CVS,and Walmart, can travel up to 25 mphand look similar to scaled-down compact cars, though they don’t carry passengers. Developed by the California-based robotics companyNuro,isn’t required to meet traditional regulations for cars and trucks, thanks to a recent ruling.
Of course, autonomous deliveries can facethat go far beyond broken eggs and spilled milk. Both drones and driverless vehicles can struggle with stormy weather, and landing or parking can be difficult or impossible in crowded urban environments. That’s why most of the pilot programs have taken place in suburban and rural areas, where there’s ample room to maneuver and drop deliveries.
