Coles takes to the air with groceries delivered by drone

Coles has become Australia’s first major supermarket to take to the air and offer drone delivery so their customers can receive popular grocery items faster and easier.

Coles has partnered with on-demand drone delivery company Wing and Canberra residents will be the first to trial the new service to receive their deliveries within minutes.

This follows the successful partnership between Wing and KFC for food delivery in the Queensland town of Logan.

Canberra customers can order their groceries via the Wing app.

There will be more than 250 items available to order using the drone service including bread, fresh produce, snacks, convenience meals, health care items, kitchen essentials and toilet paper.

The Wing drones are custom designed for package delivery and, on arrival, will hover above the destination and slowly lower the package to the ground.

They can carry packages weighing up to 1.5kg at speeds or more than 110km/h.

Coles chief executive e-commerce Ben Hassing says this new delivery method will play into Coles goal to become more sustainable by reducing the number of trucks on the road.

“We are passionate about finding innovative ways to help our customers to shop with us and we aim to deliver anytime, anywhere, anyhow shopping,” Mr Hassing said.

“By partnering with Wing, we’re able to offer our online customers another convenient option to purchase the Coles items they know and love and get them delivered straight to their door.”

Simon Rossi, General Manager, Wing, Australia, said, “We’re delighted to be teaming up with Coles, one of Australia’s leading retailers, to expand their delivery options for customers by taking to the skies of Canberra.

“Whether you’ve run out of milk and eggs for breakfast, forgotten to pick up a loaf of bread for school lunches, or are just after a fresh ‘grab and go’ snack, customers in our delivery service area in Canberra can now get those urgent items they need in a hurry, delivered by drone.

“In the last year we’ve seen a significant increase in use of our on-demand drone delivery service, with many customers finding the service especially useful as they stayed home and relied on our contactless delivery service to deliver the items they needed.

“Wing made more than 100,000 deliveries in Australia in 2021, and strong demand for drone delivery has continued in 2022. Wing has already made more than 30,000 deliveries in Australia this year.”