CINCINNATI and MONROE, Ohio, May 3,
2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and Drone
Express, a division of TELEGRID Technologies, Inc., today announced
a pilot to offer grocery delivery via autonomous drones, expanding
the retailer's seamless ecosystem and providing customers with
anything, anytime, anywhere.
"Kroger's new drone delivery pilot is part of the evolution of
our rapidly growing and innovative e-commerce business – which
includes pickup, delivery, and ship and reached more than
$10 billion in sales in 2020," said
Kroger's Jody Kalmbach, group vice
president of product experience. "The pilot reinforces the
importance of flexibility and immediacy to customers, powered by
modern, cost-effective, and efficient last-mile solutions. We're
excited to test drone delivery and gain insights that will inform
expansion plans as well as future customer solutions."
How the Drone Grocery Delivery Pilot Works
The pilot
will offer customers unparalleled flexibility as Drone Express
technology allows package delivery to the location of a customer's
smartphone not only to a street address, simply meaning a customer
will be able to order delivery of picnic supplies to a park,
sunscreen to the beach, or condiments to a backyard cookout, for
instance.
Kroger is designing bundled product offerings ideal for meeting
customer needs within the current weight limits for drone delivery,
which is about five pounds. As an illustration, Kroger will offer a
baby care bundle with wipes and formula, a child wellness bundle
with over-the-counter medications and fluids, and a S'mores bundle
with graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. Using
Kroger.com/DroneDelivery, customers can place orders and have
eligible orders delivered within as little as 15 minutes.
"Autonomous drones have unlimited potential to improve everyday
life, and our technology opens the way to safe, secure,
environmentally friendly deliveries for Kroger customers," said
Beth Flippo, Chief Technology
Officer, TELEGRID. "The possibilities for customers are endless –
we can enable Kroger customers to send chicken soup to a sick
friend or get fast delivery of olive oil if they run out while
cooking dinner."
Drone Express will commence test flights this week near the
Kroger Marketplace in Centerville,
Ohio (1095 South Main Street). The flights will be managed
by licensed Drone Express pilots from an on-site trailer with
additional off-site monitoring. Customer deliveries are scheduled
to begin later this spring, and a second pilot is scheduled to
launch this summer at a Ralphs store in California.
"The launch of the pilot in Centerville is the culmination of months of
meticulous research and development by Kroger and Drone Express to
better serve and meet the needs of our customers," said
Ethan Grob, Kroger's director of
last mile strategy and product. "We look forward to progressing
from test flights to customer deliveries this spring, introducing
one more way for our customers to experience Kroger."
"Kroger and Drone Express made a great choice in piloting this
program in Centerville – a
community with a robust business network focused on progress and
stability near the birthplace of aviation," said Centerville Mayor Brooks Compton. "Families here have the power to
transform grocery delivery around the nation and the globe. We look
forward to placing our first order."
Media Assets
To download Kroger and Drone Express
photography, please visit here.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR),
we are dedicated to our Purpose: to Feed the Human Spirit™. We are
nearly half a million associates who serve over nine million
customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and
2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names,
serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating
#ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us,
visit our newsroom and investor relations site.
About TELEGRID
Headquartered in New Jersey, TELEGRID Technologies, Inc. is a
woman-owned small business founded in 1984 with a focus on
providing cutting-edge technologies, including communications and
networking equipment and systems for U.S. military and government
agencies. In 2018, the company founded Drone Express to
integrate its state-of-the-art, military-grade wireless mesh
network with advanced drone technologies. Drone Express, which uses
only American-made parts in its drones, currently has operations in
California, New Jersey, and Ohio. TELEGRID is currently one of only 10
companies pre-approved by the FAA to achieve airworthiness
consideration for its DE-2020 unmanned aircraft.
A division of TELEGRID Technologies, Drone Express is a
logistics firm that works with companies to strategically integrate
drone delivery into supply chains and service offerings. The
company recently established a facility in the southwest
Ohio community of Monroe as a hub for manufacturing, testing,
and piloting of autonomous drones for commercial package
delivery.
Drone Express grew out TELEGRID's extensive experience with the
U. S. Department of Defense, which gave the company the proven
success necessary to work with the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) on the certification process. TELEGRID is currently one of
only 10 companies pre-approved by the FAA to achieve airworthiness
consideration for its DE-2020 unmanned aircraft. The company is
also exploring ways to expand the range of drone deliveries Beyond
Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) as part of the FAA's BEYOND program
through lead participant the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. For more information,
visit www.telegrid.com. For more information on Drone Express and
its commercial drone delivery offering, visit
https://droneexpress.ai/.
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SOURCE The Kroger Co.