Seeing groceries in the sky may become much more common as Walmart and drone delivery service Wing expand their partnership.
Wing announced that Walmart’s drone delivery will be expanded to 150 stores in 2026. In doing so, it will be able to reach more than 40 million Americans. Plans call for even more in 2027, with Walmart and Wing adding 270 drone delivery locations from Los Angeles to Miami. The announcement comes on the heels of a recent expansion into Atlanta after debuting in Dallas.
Walmart heralded the expanded service.
“Drone delivery plays an important role in our ability to deliver what customers want, exactly when they want it. Whether it’s a last-minute ingredient for dinner, a must-have charger for a phone, or a late-night essential for a busy family, the strong adoption we’ve seen confirms that this is the future of convenience,” said Greg Cathey, senior vice president of digital fulfillment transformation at Walmart, in a press release. “By expanding drone delivery to new major metro areas, we are helping more customers solve for their last-minute needs faster than ever before.”
Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 2000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales.
The retailer is also No. 8 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database. That database hosts Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the top such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).
Walmart to expand drone delivery through Wing
Meanwhile, analysts say Walmart is redefining delivery and throwing down the gauntlet to Amazon.
“This is Walmart saying the next delivery battleground is minutes, not hours,” said Rich Pleeth, co-founder of the logistics firm Finmile. “It is a clear signal to Amazon that they think convenience expectations are shifting, especially for everyday and urgent items.”
Pleeth added that drone delivery is not yet a viable urban option. However, it will work in suburban and rural areas where airspace is simpler and there is a lot of open space. So when Walmart is announcing cities like St. Louis and Cincinnati, it’s the vast suburbs and exurbs that will be targeted the most.
Pleeth also said Walmart is taking a much less labor-intensive turnkey route to build out the service than other competitors.
“The partnership model matters,” Pleeth stated. “Amazon is attempting to build everything in-house. Walmart is staying asset-light by working with specialists. This should let them move faster and scale.”
He added that one should never count Amazon out, though.
The bigger opportunity is for urgent, lightweight deliveries like prescriptions or critical parts. Once customers trust the service, offering the same speed to businesses is a next step. Drones will not replace vans or couriers. They become a premium speed layer in places where they make sense. This expansion shows drone delivery is moving from experiment to real service, but in a targeted way.
Still, the move to drone delivery may not be without downsides, especially for the person wanting to run into Walmart to grab a few items.
“With drones becoming more popular, brace yourself — get ready for the walk-in retail distribution center,” said Dr. Diane Dye, CEO of People Risk Consulting.
“Your local Walmart will be a hub distribution center for a designated drone area,” Dye said. “As walk-in traffic dwindles, so will service-facing personnel.”
She described the scenarios of a bank of cash registers sitting idle with maybe one employee to handle malfunctions, tobacco or alcohol purchases.
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