Lowe’s Takes Flight With 20-Minute Drone Delivery | Fast Five Shorts
Lowe’s is taking to the skies, becoming the first home improvement retailer to launch drone delivery through partnerships with DoorDash and Wing.
Customers can get more than 100 project essentials delivered in as fast as 20 minutes. Chris Walton explains why forgotten painter’s tape, caulk, batteries and other last-minute essentials could make home improvement one of the strongest use cases for drone delivery.
Watch the full Fast Five episode here: https://youtu.be/YTVMA7yS7-g
00:00 - Untitled
00:31 - Drone capabilities and delivery range
00:44 - Finale — Last Question: Is Lowe's Delivery Steak or Sizzle?
01:01 - Why Fast Delivery Matters for Home Improvement
01:19 - Need for Painter's Tape and Fast Delivery
01:47 - Concern: Discoverability of Drone Storefronts
02:07 - Conclusion: Favorable Assessment and Manageable Drone Flight
Lowes is launching Drone Delivery in partnership with Doordash and Alphabet's Wing, becoming the first home improvement retailer to offer this service, according to CNBC.
Speaker AThe pilot is live at a store in Matthews, North Carolina, a Charlotte suburb, giving customers access to more than 100 products in as fast as 20 minutes.
Speaker AWith plans for expansion, customers order through a dedicated Lowe's by Drones storefront in the Doordash app, which wing.
Speaker ADrones carry about 2 1/2 pounds per flight and cover roughly a 5 mile radius around the store.
Speaker AThe assortment focuses on small, easily forgotten project essentials.
Speaker BHand tools, paint supplies, painters tape, caulk,.
Speaker ABatteries, soap, and all purpose cleaner.
Speaker AI love that soaps in there, Ella.
Speaker AI find that really interesting.
Speaker BDo you find that interesting?
Speaker ABut more importantly, what is the last question of the day?
Speaker COkay, last question.
Speaker CFinale A and M wants to know, is Lowe's delivery PR Steak or sizzle?
Speaker AOoh, steak or sizzle.
Speaker AI had a steak last night.
Speaker AIt was very good, actually.
Speaker AOh man.
Speaker AI actually, I think this story's great.
Speaker BI'm just going to come out and say it.
Speaker BI think this story's great because I believe that the need is probably there to get things to customers quickly when you're in a home improvement situation.
Speaker BYou know, like, yeah, I probably need.
Speaker ASome caulk or I probably need some.
Speaker BSoap or some cleaning detergent or what.
Speaker AElse the heck did they say?
Speaker AElla?
Speaker BYeah, I probably need some painters tape.
Speaker BYeah, if you, if you start a paint job and you run out of painters tape, heck yeah, I need that quickly, I need that fast.
Speaker BAnd Lowe's is going to want to deliver it at low cost, so.
Speaker BSo net net.
Speaker AI think it's worth the test.
Speaker AAnd here's the thing, here's the thing.
Speaker AIf it works, it's pretty darn validating.
Speaker BBecause if you want to use it the way they describe the experiences, you have to really find it.
Speaker BYou have to go to a dedicated.
Speaker ALowe's by Drone storefront.
Speaker BI mean, how many people are going to find that?
Speaker BSo that's my one misgiving with this whole thing.
Speaker BBut at the test stage, it isn't necessarily bad to have the customer find.
Speaker AIt that way because if it works,.
Speaker BYou know, you have something.
Speaker BHowever.
Speaker AHowever, my one caveat is I think it could also lead to a lot of false negatives if the experience is just too hard to find for most of your customers.
Speaker ABut at the end of the day, at the end of the day, I like it a lot and I think it's a very valid test to run, particularly because I would imagine the volume of these types of concerns will be low or lower than normal, and so the drone flight should be pretty easy to manage.