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Wing drone delivery to Coles’ Gold Coast clients brings store-to-home service to Oz

Wing continues to build on its drone delivery momentum in its Australia – its most vibrant market thus far – with the launch of what it calls the first store-to-home service in the Gold Coast area in partnership with supermarket chain Coles.

In addition to being the first aerial transportation of orders directly from a supermarket to waiting customers in Australia, Wing says its partnership with Coles will also give consumers around the southeastern Queensland city of Gold Coast their first taste of drone delivery service. The activity is set to begin November 2 in the northern suburbs of Ormeau, Ormeau Hills, and Yatala, where clients can expect to receive items bought remotely in just minutes.

Read: Wing’s Ipswich drone delivery tests new Aussie expansion strategy 

The expansion to Gold Coast with Coles marks another form of Wing’s innovation of its drone deliveries both in Australia and abroad. Just last week the Alphabet-owned company announced a new strategy for adding neighborhoods to its Aussie networks by locating new facilities in unused spaces in retail-heavy properties owned by developer Mirvac. 

Its at-store drone delivery approach with Coles around Gold Coast is similar to the way the company began transporting orders from Walgreens outlets in a Dallas-Ft. Worth suburb last April. That followed the company’s decision last year to position a loading and flight center on the roof of a shopping mall in its biggest Australian market of Logan ­– an early attempt to bring its logistics operations closer to partnered retailers.

The Gold Coast setup also brings change to Wing’s existing drone delivery operation with Coles in the Canberra area, where the retailer stocked items available for order at a co-operated logistics site. 

The new format will transport popular grocery items including bread, fresh produce, convenience meals, snacks, healthcare items, and household essentials directly from Coles’ Ormeau Village Shopping Centre store – doubling the products ready for delivery to about 500.

Its eagerness to innovate in Australia reflects the nation’s status as Wing’s biggest and most enthusiastic drone delivery market. Last year the company transported orders to more than 100,000 Aussie clients, and had already surpassed the 120,000 mark in the first nine months of 2022. 

It also has networks in Finland and the US – where it has added markets at a far slower pace – and to date has made over 250,000 total drone deliveries

ReadManna drone delivery CEO Bobby Healy discusses EU, US expansion 

Earlier this month Wing said it will also initiate drone delivery service in Ireland, where the fast growth and early domination of local hero Manna has allowed it to transport over 100,000 orders two Irish areas. Manna also plans to announce a new location near Dublin soon that could quadruple potential homes served, before setting off on expansion to Europe and future activity in the US.

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Avatar for Bruce Crumley Bruce Crumley

Bruce Crumley is journalist and writer who has worked for Fortune, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, The Guardian, AFP, and was Paris correspondent and bureau chief for Time magazine specializing in political and terrorism reporting. He splits his time between Paris and Biarritz, and is the author of novel Maika‘i Stink Eye.

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