Look Up! Drones Are Heading to Your Home…

Like many Americans, I’m addicted to the convenience of home delivery.

If my family is clamoring for pizza, DoorDash delivers.

If we run out of batteries for the remote, Amazon has us covered.

When my young daughter was sick recently, we had her prescription delivered because it was fast and efficient.

Nothing beats the comfort of seeing a delivery vehicle roll up to your home when you’re waiting for something important like medicine.

But in the future… we might need to look up instead.

That’s because drone deliveries are ready to soar, disrupting the way we receive everything from food to medicine.

And the forecasted speed that they’re coming will shock you…

The Future of Delivery is Taking Flight

According to estimates, drones made around 5 million deliveries to customers worldwide last year.

That might sound like a huge amount, but the number is expected to jump to 808 million deliveries by 2034.

That’s a gain of 16,000%!

What’s more, the value of goods delivered by these flying helpers will grow from $251 million in 2024 to over $65 billion during that same time frame.

And that’s going to drive incredible growth in this sector.

One of the biggest reasons is that drone deliveries are becoming cheaper.

Right now, each delivery costs between $6 and $25.

But over the next decade these costs are expected to drop by more than 70%.

This means drone deliveries won’t just match the cost of traditional delivery methods – they’ll actually become cheaper…

Which should lead to an inflection point that drives rapid adoption.

But not everyone can expect to get their packages delivered by drone right away.

Regulatory and infrastructure challenges could slow adoption in urban areas.

That’s because there aren’t many safe places for drones to land in crowded urban areas, and because flying over lots of people raises safety concerns.

But it’s a different story entirely for suburban and rural areas…

That’s where the real revolution will happen.

Rural areas often struggle with slow or expensive delivery options, making them perfect for drone service.

In fact, experts believe drone delivery could serve about 67% of people worldwide by 2034, mainly in these less crowded areas.

To put that in perspective, drone delivery services could potentially replace 389 billion traditional deliveries worldwide in the next decade.

What kinds of things will these drones deliver?

Pretty much everything you’re used to having delivered today, including regular packages from online shopping, food from restaurants and prescription medicine.

Companies are excited about drone delivery because it will enable them to reach new customers and make their delivery services more efficient.

And there’s an additional benefit that comes with drone deliveries that affects all of us…

It’s much better for the environment.

Each delivery drone can save about 45 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year compared to regular delivery vehicles.

That’s equivalent to the carbon storage of 1,800 trees.

So you shouldn’t hear people complaining about drones ruining the environment.

But that doesn’t mean you should expect to see a drone landing on your doorstep tomorrow.

Here’s My Take

For businesses considering using drones, there’s some important planning to do.

For one, they need to think carefully about what they’re delivering. For example, food and medicine might need special temperature-controlled compartments, while regular packages will need more space.

Companies also need to understand where their customers live and what they want to have delivered quickly.

That kind of data will be refined as drone delivery becomes more ubiquitous.

But I want to be clear. I’m not saying drone delivery is just a cool idea that will happen in the future…

It’s a real business that’s already working.

We’re still waiting for some government approvals before we see massive drone delivery operations here in the U.S., but hundreds of thousands of successful deliveries have already happened around the world.

It’s an industry poised for explosive growth, with the potential to reshape retail, logistics and last-mile delivery services.

And there’s room for multiple winners in the space…

From pure-play drone companies to retailers to established logistics firms that successfully integrate drone technology.

What’s more, drone delivery technology could create entirely new markets rather than just replacing existing services.

By making delivery viable in previously underserved areas, companies could significantly grow these untapped markets.

That’s a prospect a company like Amazon must be salivating over.

And why — when it comes to the future of deliveries — I’m going to keep looking up.

Regards,

Ian King
Chief Strategist, Banyan Hill Publishing