Overview:

Delivery drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) specifically designed for use in transportation of goods. Delivery drones serve wide range of customers relying on fast and reliable door step delivery. The market is expected to witness enormous growth in the following years considering the increasing demand for faster deliveries. Similarly, rising demand for cost effective last-mile deliveries of consumer goods also positively contributed to the overall market growth. Advancements in delivery management software is further expected to improve the capabilities of delivery drones which is expected to increase its adoptions in the near future.

In addition, delivery drones offer flexible and safe transportation of consumer goods, thereby eliminating the need for additional support. Thus, easy handling, mobility and accurate tracking features offered by delivery drones make them preferred option in overall product delivery sector. Delivery drones are also expected to witness robust demand from postal deliveries along with food & healthcare industries among others. Similarly, delivery drones may unleash the huge untapped e-commerce market opportunities in rural sectors. For instance, in 2015, Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd announced its plans to use delivery drones for rural deliveries with a view of reducing operational costs required in accessing remote areas.

Delivery drones market is highly driven in interest of growing demand for fast and accurate deliveries across the world. These drones offer accelerated delivery times coupled with improved accuracy and reduced human cost associated with deliveries. With continually rising e-commerce sector worldwide, online retail companies are increasingly looking for more effective, faster and accurate delivery solutions. Thus, delivery drones are set to rise in popularity for delivery services throughout the forecast period from 2018-2026.

Delivery drone vendors are investing in R&D for modular drones that can select components based on the characteristics of the package, weather conditions, distance to travel and other factors. In 2016, Amazon.com, Inc. completed its first successful Prime Air drone delivery in Cambridge, the U.K. Thus, e-commerce companies may soon adopt delivery drones for their services. Nevertheless, expensive device (UAV), limited flight life and privacy breach are some of the challenges for delivery drones market growth. Hacking and spoofing may also possibly hamper the market growth. Moreover, customer’s absence at the time of delivery and reducing or eliminating packaging costs are few more challenges faced by the delivery drones market.

Higher inclination towards adopting drones and immune efforts taken by e-commerce companies are the main factors pushing North America as regional leader. Similarly, the U.K. has also launched new initiatives such as partnership between Amazon.com, Inc. and the U.K. Government, to establish itself as a prominent market for delivery drones. Further, due to initiatives by companies such as Amazon.com, Inc. and Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd., the e-commerce sector in Asia Pacific is set to witness robust growth in the years to come. This is further expected to ensure steady market growth during the forecast period.

The global delivery drones market is segmented on the following basis:

• By Range:
  • Short-range delivery drones (up to 150Km)
  • Mid-range delivery drones (150Km to 650Km)
  • Long-range delivery drones (>650Km)
  • Endurance delivery drones
• By Propellers:
  • Tricopter
  • Quadcopter
  • Hexacopter
  • Octocopter
• By End-use Vertical:
  • E-commerce
  • Healthcare
  • Transport & Logistics
  • Postal Delivery
  • Military & Defense
• By Geography:
  • North America
    • U.S.
    • Rest of North America
  • Europe
    
    • U.K.
    • Germany
    • France
    • Rest of Europe
  • Asia Pacific
    
    • Japan
    • China
    • India
    • Rest of Asia Pacific
  • Rest of the World
    
    • Latin America
    • Middle East & Africa (MEA)

Key players identified delivery drones include but are not limited to:

Matternet, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon Prime Air), Parrot Drones SAS (Parrot AR Drone - the first quadricopter piloted via Wi-Fi and augmented reality), Alphabet, Inc., Airware, Inc., Cyphy Works, Inc., Aeryon Labs, Inc., X Development LLC, , CJ Korea Express Corp Pvt. Ltd., and others.