On-demand drone delivery service Wing is partnering with retail real estate group Vicinity Centers to test a new delivery model that will fly goods from the rooftops of retail centers straight to homes and businesses in South East Queensland.
Since mid-August, Wing and Vicinity Center have been managing the world's first drone delivery service from the roof of the Grand Plaza in Logan, Queensland, delivering goods on-demand from a number of companies in the center directly to consumers.
Participating companies include grocery and beverage stores, Sushi Hub, Boost Juice, and Chatime. Starting today (October 7th), TerryWhite Chemmart's local community pharmacy will also offer drone delivery of over-the-counter medicines, personal care, health and beauty products. 
In the first six weeks of operation, Wing made more than 2,500 contactless drone deliveries from the Grand Plaza to customers in parts of the Logan suburbs of Regents Park, Heritage Park, Park Ridge, Browns Plains, Marsden, Crestmead and Berrinba. The service will soon be expanded to more customers and delivery from other companies will be offered in the center.
Comfort and speed
Wing Australia Head of Policy & Community Affairs Jesse Suskin says the company is excited to explore this new delivery model with Vicinity Centers.
"For the first time we are placing our drones together with companies on their premises, instead of local companies having to assemble their goods with us in our delivery plant," he says. 
"With consumers' growing desire for convenience and speed, on-demand drone delivery can help solve the costly last mile delivery challenge, reduce road congestion and emissions, and create new business opportunities for businesses by reducing their Use existing retail space as logistics. Hubs and fulfillment centers.
"We look forward to continuing to work with the Vicinity Centers team to develop new delivery models that can complement Grand Plaza retail stores and, if successful, potentially introduce similar models to other locations in the Vicinity Centers retail property portfolio."
Optimize omnichannel retail
Justin Mills, Vicinity's chief innovation and information officer, says the Wing drone delivery pilot has helped retailers unlock the value of their physical business to optimize omnichannel retail. 
“The retail industry is changing and Vicinity is taking a test-and-learning approach in areas critical to the future role of Australian malls. We believe that the partnership with Wing will be an important part of our overall sales and fulfillment strategy and will support our new growth strategy, ”he says.
“Almost two thirds of the Australian population live within 30 minutes of one of our 61 strategically located centers. This national presence provides a strong basis for the implementation of our sales and fulfillment strategy by rapidly scaling our drone delivery partnership with Wing and further developing our joint logistics hubs and micro-fulfillment centers.
“By researching new technologies like drone delivery, our retailers can offer their customers breakthrough product deliveries in minutes instead of days while reducing their carbon footprint.
"Our partnership with Wing is a natural extension of our sales and fulfillment strategy that will help retailers leverage physical stores and our shopping center network to get their products into the hands of customers faster and more efficiently."
