Walmart Drone Delivery Expands, Stock Rises

Walmart, in partnership with Alphabet's Wing, is expanding its drone delivery service to 100 additional stores in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa, building on existing operations in Arkansas and Dallas-Fort Worth. The company has already completed over 150,000 drone deliveries, with an average fulfillment time of 19 minutes. This expansion establishes Walmart as the first retailer to offer large-scale drone delivery across five states, reaching millions of customers. Walmart aims to gain a competitive edge over rivals like Amazon by leveraging its store network for faster last-mile logistics. The announcement was met with a modest gain in Walmart's stock and heightened interest in technology-driven supply chain solutions, including crypto and blockchain projects. Meanwhile, China's Meituan is also growing its drone delivery operations globally, highlighting rapid innovation in retail logistics.