Speeding Up Food Delivery: How Drones are Revolutionizing the Delivery Industry
A major benefit of drone deliveries is speed. Drones can travel much faster than conventional delivery methods, such as bikes or cars, and can navigate through traffic more easily. This means that packages can be delivered faster, which can be particularly beneficial for time-constraint deliveries, like medical supplies.
Cost-Effectiveness
Customers not only want their food delivery to be fast but also an affordable one. When it comes to food delivery prices, especially when collaborating with third-party services, they continue to get higher with time. Various services increase their delivery fees, sometimes even equal to the same price, or more, than the order itself. Many delivery fees are usually expensive because the shipping and driver fees are included in them.
In this scenario, drone deliveries can save the day as they incur less delivery costs. Drones also require fewer resources compared to traditional delivery methods. A drone does not need a driver or fuel, which can substantially reduce operational costs, thereby escalating their use for food delivery through e-commerce.
Presently, restaurants are facing a challenging scenario due to rising drone use for food deliveries. Also, to tackle the high delivery prices, they either need to upcharge their customer, which might lead to the customer taking their business elsewhere, or marginalizing their own profits, which could harm their business in the long run. Food deliveries from drones require a negligible operation cost when compared to the standard mode of delivery.
Safe for Environment
Food deliveries from drones don’t pose any threat to the environment. Employing drones for this service can reduce use of cars and other fuel-emitting vehicles on the roads. Since drones run on electricity/battery, this service can help reduce the overall carbon footprint. Of course, for this to create a strong impact and long-term benefit, drones might require their wide use from the food delivery companies. It could take many years for restaurants to adapt to the new practice of using drone delivery instead of standard delivery methods, requiring a significant change in their behavior.
Future of Drone Food Delivery
The exact future of drone food delivery is not clear. While there are some companies that currently offer food delivery in partnerships with restaurants, it is only prevalent in a few cities. While other companies and restaurants hope to continue to run trials and offer this service in near future, there is a possibility that it could take a few years for it to become commonplace. Looking toward the future of drone delivery, we can hope for a transitional shift toward integrating new technologies in drones that offers affordable, quick, and convenient food delivery.
The noose of frenzy tightened around businesses as the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. The biggest industry at the receiving end of this intensifying pandemic is the food and grocery industry. For a while now, the grocery industry has been undergoing a transformation, dictated by changing consumer preferences, booming e-commerce, and intense competition. In our in-depth reports, we have tried to understand challenges ahead as the world grapples to demystify the “new normal”.
Online Delivery to Rescue as Human Interactions Get Dangerous
The United Nations Development Programme states that Covid-19 will disproportionately affect the global population, creating a greater impact on developing economies. It further states that loss of income in emerging economies will go well beyond $220 billion, creating an urgent need to rethink basic food security and nutrition. Despite the grim outlook, the need to keep the real world up and running with the help of the virtual one is expected to create new avenues for online delivery services, food dehydrators, and canned food market.
For instance, in a latest new by The Economic Times, Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) stated that dehydrated garlic and other spices such as chillies, ginger, and cumin are gaining momentum as supply chain is taking a hard hit for the global trade. Our research report on global food dehydrators market predicts the market will rise at a CAGR of 6.8% between 2019 and 2029 with growing demand from Europe. While one industry benefits amidst crisis, the clarity on how the rest of them will function is debatable.
As national and state governments are enforcing lockdowns to prevent Covid-19 transmissions on a war footing, it is time we take a look at online delivery market that is playing a crucial role in helping the food and beverages industry survive. In recent times, exponential accessibility to smartphones has titled consumers towards online delivery of meals faster than online shopping. Indian players such as Swiggy and Zomato are to thank for feeding millions of stranded citizen amidst the growing medical emergency. FMI predicts this market to register a CAGR of 9.3% in the coming decade.
Could Drone Deliveries be the Next Big Thing?
Going ahead, the nature of these deliveries is also poised to change as drones will replace the human effort to make the service contactless and safer. Drone delivery services will be a key strategy adopted by multiple players as businesses enter meetings to discuss their sustainability goals. The food and beverages and grocery industries will have to up their game with faster, quicker, and safer deliveries to remain relevant in the coming months. As restaurants remain closed, feeding the masses will have to be reimagined. The nature of deliveries will be less of takeaways and more of farm produce to ensure basic sustenance. How the online delivery systems will cash in on this, remains to be seen. However, the bigger question is how to ensure consistent supply chain of food from farmers to local buyers.
Will Local Grocers make a Comeback?
The local grocery stores are expected to make a solid comeback giving big guys such as AmazonFresh, LLC, Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V., Fresh Direct, LLC, mySupermarket Limited, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and BigBasket a run for their money. Feeding the 7.8 billion population on this planet can only be possible with help from local grocers collaborating with big companies. Prioritizing farmer needs and investments in research and practice of permaculture would set some sustainable development goals at individual levels, easing the burden from global markets. The way ahead is cooperation between the smaller and bigger vendors to help farmers to reach to the local buyers to keep the economy afloat while we sort out the bigger humanitarian crisis.
