Amazon drone delivery announcement welcomed

Aug 07, 2016 Warehousing Ireland Logistics, News Comments Off on Amazon drone delivery announcement welcomed

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The online shopping world is changing at an unprecedented rate – mainly thanks to shopping giant, Amazon. The one-stop shop for consumers around the world, they have redefined online shopping offering one-click purchasing, Sunday delivery and competitive pricing. And now the e-retailer is set to overhaul the retail market once again, taking advantage of one of the most popular pieces of equipment at the minute and making it work for the retail sector.

Drones have become commonplace in today’s society. They can be used in a range of settings, but are most commonly used for filming and for military purposes. However Amazon recently announce that it was to explore the option of using drones to deliver online purchases to customers. PalletTrucksUK, one of the country’s leading providers of pallet trucks and other manual handling equipment to plethora of sectors, has celebrated the news, citing it as a turning point for the online retail industry.

Phil Chesworth, Managing Director of PalletTrucksUK, said, “Consumers are becoming more demanding than ever before, so it only makes sense to look at alternative methods of delivering parcels to speed up the time taken to get them from warehouse to consumer. There’s no denying that drones could be the answer – particularly in busy towns and cities where roads are often congested so it’s harder to move from one side to the other quickly.”

Amazon currently offers one day delivery to the UK on thousands of products, and has even recently introduced one hour delivery to customers in certain parts of the UK. Delivery times however will be slashed if they can start using drones, as these will offer 30 minute delivery slots.

The tests are due to begin imminently. They are the most extensive trials of Amazon’s drones anywhere in the world, with the company developing the technology at a research and development base in Cambridge. The testing will reportedly take place in a rural location south east of the city, as well as a number of other areas.

Phil, adds, “If any ecommerce business is going to break the mould and successfully do something completely out of the box, it’s going to be Amazon.”

PalletTrucksUK has been one of the UK’s leading suppliers of high quality warehouse equipment for over 30 years. The perfect addition to manual handing workforces, equipment such as pallet trucks, stackers, platform lifts and moving skates can help to improve productivity and turnaround time for a range of businesses.

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