The dream of having a drone deliver your online order to your doorstep is not as far away as you might think. We’ve seen some companies like Amazon testing it out in some places already. Now Samsung UK is partnering with a drone delivery company called Manna to deliver customers’ orders with almost no contact in Ireland. This is part of the OEM’s exploration of alternative means of delivery, especially for those who want to receive their order as soon as possible.
This is the first time that Samsung is doing an end-to-end contactless experience for their customers. Ordering can be done online through Samsung’s Irish eStore at samsung.com/ie and the order will be delivered with custom-developed aerospace-grade drones that will drop off the package right at the customer’s homes. They are first trying it out for customers based in Oranmore and the order can arrive within 3 minutes but depending of course on how close the address is to the fulfillment center.
The Manna drones can fly as high as 80 meters and as fast as 60 kph that’s why it can arrive as quickly as that, at least in theory and depending on weather conditions. Not all Samsung products can be delivered through this system though. What can be ordered and delivered by drone are the latest Galaxy S smartphones, the Galaxy Tab S, the Galaxy A smartphones, the Galaxy Watch 3, and the Galaxy Buds Pro. There was no mention if other Samsung devices will be added eventually.
.Photo: Andrew Downes xposure
Aside from the convenience for customers, this can also be a boasting point for Samsung as they can be considered a pioneer for this kind of online shopping experience. Well of course, hopefully, this “experiment” will go off without any major hitches as a bad initial run can ruin or at least slow down the application of drone deliveries for the industry. Samsung says they believe this will be the future of retail so they are investing a lot in this.
For now, only customers within Oranmore in Ireland will be able to try out the drone delivery service for their Samsung orders. They plan to expand nationwide if this goes well.