Vicinity takes wing with drone delivery service
Vicinity Centres has partnered with Google’s Wing delivery service in what it says is a global first to deliver goods from a shopping centre rooftop by drone to customers, with a pilot scheme from a Queensland mall.
Launched from the rooftop of the Grand Plaza shopping centre in Logan, just south of Brisbane, the service has completed more than 2500 contactless deliveries to customers in nearby suburbs since mid-August.
While Wing, owned Google parent Alphabet, has set up its own delivery hubs in Canberra and separately in Logan for online retailers, the mall-top service is thought to be the first of its kind.
“Our partnership with Wing is a natural extension of our distribution and fulfilment strategy which will help retailers use physical stores and our shopping centre network to get their products in customer hands quicker and more efficiently,” Vicinity’s chief innovation and information officer, Justin Mills, said.
Vicinity, the second largest listed owner of shopping malls in the country, will look at extending the drone service to its other malls, many of them large suburban malls with plenty of airspace for drones.
Using a mobile app, customers in nearby suburbs have been ordering from Grand Plaza businesses including Sushi Hub, Boost Juice, Chatime, and Terry White Chemmart.
The Wing drones can deliver packages up to 1.5 kilograms, which typically arrive within minutes. The drones typically fly 45 metres above the ground, and at about 110 kilometres per hour.
“The retail industry is changing, and Vicinity is employing a test and learn approach in areas critical to the role of Australian shopping centres in the future,” Mr Mills said.
“We believe the partnership with Wing will be an important component ofour overall distribution and fulfilment strategy and support our new growth strategy.”
Almost two-thirds of the country’s population live within 30 minutes of one of Vicinity’s 61 centres. That footprint will allow Vicinity to scale up the drone delivery partnership with Wing as well as advance plans for co-located logistics hubs and micro fulfilment centres, according to Mr Mills.
Wing’s own delivery service has been up and running for more than two years. In Logan alone, it operates across 19 suburbs and had completed 50,000 deliveries in the first eight months of the year.
“We’re delighted to explore this new model of delivery with Vicinity Centres,” said Jesse Suskin, Wing’s head of policy and community affairs in Australia.
“For the first time, we are co-locating our drones with businesses at their premises, rather than local businesses having to co-locate their goods with us at our delivery facility.”
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