Google’s drone deliveries soar as online shopping demand explodes during pandemic

Google’s drone delivery trial has witnessed a stunning 500pc increase in delivery volumes since February.

Google’s drone trial in Canberra has witnessed a stunning 500pc increase of its delivery volumes since February. Picture: AFP/Wing

A world-first trial in Canberra by tech giant Google to deliver anything from coffee, sushi to toilet paper by drone direct to consumers’ homes has witnessed a stunning 500 per cent increase in delivery volumes since February as soaring online shopping demand fuels growing pains for many businesses.

Drones in the air, delivery trucks crisscrossing Australian suburbs and congestion building up at post offices and distribution centres is part of the “new normal” for retailers and consumers alike, with the coronavirus pandemic and home isolation driving an online retail boom.

Such is the rise in online shopping that Australia Post believes the health crisis has helped accelerate the pace of internet penetration by about three years, to bring us closer to the penetration rates seen in the US and Europe.

The rise in the traffic of parcel vans, trucks and drones delivering packages straight to consumer homes is causing many companies to rethink and reinvest in their delivery and logistics to meet the demand.

Jonathan Bass, head of marketing and communications for Wing, Google’s drone delivery business, told The Australian its world-first trial, started last year, of drone deliveries in parts of Canberra and Brisbane, had experienced massive growth since the coronavirus pandemic began impacting people’s lives in February.

“As you can imagine, with more residents staying at home over the last several months, our deliveries have increased quite a bit, so they doubled from February to March and doubled again from March to April. And we have done thousands of deliveries since March 1 in Australia,’’ Mr Bass said.

“Food and beverage items remain the most popular, coffee is very popular, and we are delivering quite a few single rolls of toilet paper right now, hardware items and other grocery items.’’

Mr Bass said Wing, whose drones can fly at 120km an hour, has booked an approximate 350 per cent month-on-month increase in sign-ups to its service across the world.

Arron Wood owns Fairdinks, a personal shopper business that picks, packs and delivers goods sold by US warehouse format chain Costco, and said he had put on an extra 25 per cent drivers to meet demand from his more than 10,000 customers in the last few months.

“It has been record numbers of orders for our business; it had gone up 40 per cent and was crazy panic buying,’’ Mr Wood said.

“It wasn’t just toilet paper, it was everything, but it now seems to have plateaued and probably come back below. And the reason it is now below is because I had hit this spot at the moment where people’s pantries are full but businesses are not open yet, and around 75 per cent of orders are for other businesses.’’

Mr Wood said he had noticed the congestion building up at the local post office where before the pandemic and home isolation he was visiting Australia Post to mail off around a dozen orders to customers to through March and April, where daily orders to be mailed were as much as 40 at a time.

“We were posting volumes up 75 per cent more than normal and I think it will go crazy again as businesses come back online and begin ordering, and the same schools who order through me. I have around 50 schools on my books and I’m seeing them come back online with their orders,’’ Mr Wood said.

Australia Post general manager of parcels and express services, Ben Franzi, told The Australian the congestion caused by the explosion in online shopping has strained the carrier’s infrastructure and supply chain.

“It has been tough end-to-end because of the rise and growth in the volumes, and we are finding the pick and pack process is taking longer at the retail end, especially as the retailers ramp their e-commerce up.

“The volumes we are seeing are around 2-3 per cent above our peak Christmas volumes, and without the preparation for the peak because it came on pretty quick.

“It was almost instantaneously that I remember getting our office talking about the Melbourne Grand Prix being cancelled and in a couple of weeks everybody was at home and e-commerce went absolutely crazy almost from the first week.

“We didn't have the normal preparation that we would normally have and then to compound that we have social distancing rules with contactless delivery and restrictions on travel with of course using a lot passenger flights to move freight.”

Mr Franzi said these congestions caused delays in parcels but that had been pulled back in over the last few weeks through the use of pop-up shops for overflows, more casual hires, more freighters and flights.

“The volumes haven't dropped away and we have set a new standard for e-commerce and the penetration rate has probably moved from around 11.5 per cent to almost 16 per cent. We have probably accelerated e-commerce by three years in three weeks.’’