The Americans can now eliminate terrorists with pinpoint accuracy. Their drones fire on an area smaller than the family sedan. And the drones themselves can be flown with great precision. I am always intrigued to attend talks entitled ‘future trends in retail’. I live in hope, but they are usually deadly boring. Imagine my delight to read that Amazon is exploring delivering internet purchases by drone. Now before you skip to the next article, please indulge me and read on just a lit
tle.
Cast your mind back to Paul Keating as Prime Minister referring to ‘surfing the net’. It was quite a novel idea and it wasn’t that long ago, but today it is taken for granted.
Imagine a drone centre covering several suburbs. In the drone centre there are say 100 drones. There is a control room managing drones in a predefined air space. The control centre is staffed by several experienced drone controllers.
You order something online. The drone is dispatched to collect the item which has a microchip embedded in the article or packaging for easy identification. It then delivers the goods to your doorstep and sends an alert. You pick up the item. Let’s say it is a pair of shoes. You try them on and they are a little tight. You go online and ask for a pair one size up. You leave the pair that you don’t want where they were delivered. A few minutes later the drone reappears, drops off the larger size and picks up the other pair.
The entire exercise has taken less than 20 minutes. And you haven’t left your home.
Ask an internet seller about their challenges. Invariably the cost of freight is a major issue.
If drones work, what about pizza delivery? Mail delivery? Collection of parcels for posting? Your pharmacy sending your medicines? And maybe even small grocery deliveries. The mind can wander at the opportunities.
The mind can also wander at the challenges and issues. For example, a small drone will cost you $3000 today and it can’t carry very much. Also, it is controlled by line of sight. Remember the first VHS machine or the first flat screen TV? There is one phenomena about electronics that is indisputable. When you have volume, the price goes into free fall.
Maybe this is not on the horizon for the next few years. Maybe never. Who knows? But if it happens, internet sales take on a whole new perspective and will undoubtedly cause the bricks and mortar landlords a headache or two.
Stuart Bennie is a retail consultant at Impact Retailing www.impactretailing.com.au and can be contacted at stuart@impactretailing.com.au or 0414 631 702
