In January, Walmart expanded its airborne delivery footprint in North Texas, saying it was offering drone delivery for up to 75% of Dallas-Fort Worth residents. That expansion included stores across more than 30 towns and municipalities in the DFW area, marking the first time a U.S. retailer has offered drone delivery to this many households in a single market.
“Drone delivery is not just a concept of the future, it’s happening now, and will soon be a reality for millions of additional Texans,” Prathibha Rajashekhar, SVP of innovation and automation for Walmart U.S., said in a statement at the time.
A Wing drone flying a Walmart delivery [Photo: Walmart]
That reality is about to get even more real. Soon, the retail giant will begin rolling out drone delivery options in a very familiar format—right on the Walmart app.
App-based drone delivery option to begin in select DFW store areas
Starting later this month, Walmart customers in Dallas-Fort Worth will begin to be notified of the new drone ordering capability through the Walmart app “if they are eligible for drone delivery based on the address associated with their account,” the company announced Thursday.
Walmart said the integration will be done in phases “as more drone delivery sites launch and drone providers receive additional regulatory approvals to fly more goods across greater distances.”
Walmart will soon offer a Wing drone delivery option right on its app for select customer areas in North Texas [Photo: Walmart]
One of Walmart’s drone delivery partners is Mountain View, California-based Wing, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
“When Wing delivery is available within the Walmart app later this month, customers will have a wider selection and a better shopping experience than ever before,” Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said in a statement. “This is a major step toward making drone delivery a part of everyday life.”
Walmart said its investment in drone delivery technology further reaffirms “its unwavering commitment to finding innovative experiences and delivery solutions for customers, helping them to live better.”
Per Walmart, here’s the current list of its DFW stores where drone delivery is now available:
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9101 N Tarrant Pkwy, North Richland Hills
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6401 NE Loop 820, North Richland Hills
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801 W Main St, Lewisville
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8555 Preston Rd, Frisco
Other new Walmart tech includes new GenAI-powered shopping assistant
In other Walmart tech news, the company said it had launched a Walmart GenAI search experience on Walmart.com and within its app earlier this year. The tool “allows customers to spend less time scrolling, tapping, and searching,” the company said, “by enabling customers to browse based on specific use cases, generating more relevant and cross-category results.”
Since that early-2024 rollout, Walmart has added more GenAI-powered online shopping features, including GenAI-powered product reviews, product summarizations, and product comparisons.
That’s led up to something new that’s now being beta-tested: a GenAI-powered shopping assistant. The solution “engages customers in natural, free-flowing conversations,” Walmart said, guiding them to make the best choice for their unique needs, faster by answering questions like, “What’s the ideal present for a 5-year-old?”
Over time, the company says the shopping assistant “will evolve to include more advanced features and capabilities, eventually serving a trusted shopping companion.”
Algorithm delivers products without you even having to shop
Want to avoid shopping altogether? Walmart says its InHome service aims to be “the ultimate time saver,” delivering everyday essentials, general merchandise, and fresh groceries directly into customer’s homes.
In January, Walmart announced it was enhancing its InHome service with something called Replenishment. Powered by AI, “it utilizes a personalized algorithm to predict customer needs and automatically place items into the cart with your InHome order to be delivered straight to customers’ pantries and refrigerators.”
The algorithm learns customers’ regularly-purchased items including frequency and quantity, Walmart said. In April, Replenishment began its initial testing. “Customer feedback has been positive,” the company said.
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R E A D N E X T
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Powered by Wing and Zipline, Walmart's drone delivery expansion is set to reach up to 75% of residents in Dallas-Fort Worth. Its DFW footprint encompasses more than 30 local areas and sets a new benchmark for retail drone services in a single U.S. market.
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In 2022, we told you about two next-gen, robotics-packed Walmart facilities that were coming to Lancaster, just south of Dallas: a 1.5 million-square-foot automated fulfillment center and a 730,000 square-foot automated grocery distribution center. The first opened last year and the second is still under construction. When it's completed, it will complete a trifecta of transformation in the region, including a retrofitted 1.2-million-square-foot distribution center in Sanger, north of Denton.
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Walmart will launch new drone delivery service at two area stores— including one the retailer calls its "most requested expansion area." With fast drones from Alphabet-owned Wing, Dallas shoppers could get their orders in about 30 minutes.
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Dublin-based Manna Drone Delivery is kicking off its U.S. commercial operations from the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone in Fort Worth. For now, it's delivering food and beverages (and yes, candy) from national and local retailers to only one North Texas neighborhood: Pecan Square by Hillwood Communities in Northlake.
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On Tuesday, Dallas County held a Drone & Robotics Demo Day featuring presentations by 10 trailblazing companies. The event showcased a range of high-tech solutions—from surveillance drones to cleaning robots—that were both practical and, at times, awe-inspiring.
