Boots has become the latest retailer to start trialling the use of drones to make deliveries of products.
The health & beauty retailer revealed that it completed a test flight transporting prescription-only medicines by drone from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight earlier this month.
The flight departed from the British Army’s Baker Barracks on Thorney Island near Portsmouth and arrived at St. Mary’s Hospital on the Isle of Wight. The medicines were collected by Boots and transported to its pharmacies across the island, where they were dispensed to patients with prescriptions for them.
Boots worked with medical drone startup Apian to facilitate the test flight and is now assessing the future potential for drones in medicines delivery.
Rich Corbridge, Chief Information Officer at Boots, said: “Drones have huge potential in the delivery of medicines, and it is incredibly exciting to be the first community pharmacy in the UK to transport them in this way. An island location like the Isle of Wight seemed like a sensible place to start a trial of drones, and their value to the delivery of medicines to more remote locations is very clear.
“In this trial, we will be looking at how much time we can save, as well as how we can incorporate drones into our medicines supply chain to create economic efficiencies too. We want to prepare now for the wider use of this technology in the future.”
Back in June, Amazon said it expects to begin making parcel deliveries by drone in the US later this year, pending final regulatory approval. Walmart has also announced that it will make its drone delivery service available to four million US households following the success of trials.
NAM Implications:
- This initiative ticks most of the profitable online fulfilment boxes:
- High-value, low-weight cargo
- Bulk delivery rather than ‘home quantities’
- Remote locations where alternative transportation costs are comparable
- A massive first (innovators advantage) for Boots…
