How Drones are Enhancing the Retail Experience

The future of retail looks promising as it’s heading in a prosperous direction with the help of advanced technology aimed at refining the customer experience. But Are We Ready?

Amazon, Flirtey, Facebook, Google, Walmart, Alibaba, Flytrex are only a few names of companies who have already marvelled the drone-technology.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or delivery drones, as we famously call them, are already refining retail. Big players are jumping on the drone delivery bandwagon to remain relevant and part of the competition. When Jeff Bezos announced back in 2013 that Amazon was planning rapid delivery via UAVs, the news was met with scepticism. However, fast-forward to present day and Amazon is filing a patent to test drones in India.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been invested in drafting drone regulations for Indian companies, especially since 2017. DGCA also invited public comments on the draft rules on the use of drones, including for commercial purposes, which the aviation regulator hopes to finalise by the year-end.

Drones have been classified into different categories depending on their size and permitted flight distance, with the regulations of each category being different from one another.

Here is a brief look at the civil aviation requirements released by the Director General of Civil Aviation. No permissions are required for flying nano-drones (<250 gm) for recreational purposes. Although, other categories of drones will need subsequent permissions including permissions from police, flight path authorization, and more.

Read the complete Draft CAR on UAS

Aviation has been growing at an exponential rate. Drones can efficiently refine the farm to plate supply chain. Such cutting-edge efforts need to be balanced with intensive R&D and line-of-sight regulations in India. Providing the right technological-empowered environment to businesses can be the beginning of futuristic retail delivery systems which are capable of supplying products and services in minutes.

Watch the first Amazon Drone Delivery Video HERE