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2020 Predictions, drones, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Drone II : The drone delivery market map

November 15, 2019

As part of DRONELIFE’s participation in the FAA’s Drone Safety Awareness Week, DRONELIFE will feature stories according to the themes outlined. Today, we focus on drone delivery.

As high-profile drone delivery companies like Wing, UPS Flight Forward, and Zipline have made headline after headline this year, the hype around drone deliveries has become bigger than ever. But is it really all hype, or are we on the brink of major change in the way that goods are transported? Over the past two months DRONEII has conducted thorough research into the drone delivery market to bring you the latest market updates and answer all your burning questions. Here’s just a small snippet of the content that we’ve compiled into our latest Drone Delivery Report.

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Amazon.com, Food, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Amazon is making two-hour grocery delivery free for all Prime members

November 8, 2019

Amazon just added a new perk to its popular Prime membership program: free grocery delivery.

Amazon Prime members will now be able to get two-hour grocery delivery for free.

Until now, Prime members had to pay an additional $14.99 per month to get access to Amazon Fresh, the company’s grocery delivery service.

The change reflects Amazon’s growing delivery efficiency, as it looks to shorten delivery time — which in turn leads to more frequent purchases and bigger spending.

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Automation, drones, Science & Technology News, Shopping, UPS

UPS partners with CVS to develop drone delivery service for prescription drugs

October 31, 2019

A UPS autonomous drone carries medical supplies.

UPS announces an agreement with CVS to develop a drone delivery service for prescription drugs.

UPS gets the first FAA approval to operate a drone delivery service earlier this month.

FedEx completes its first residential drone delivery under a pilot program last week.

Continue reading… “UPS partners with CVS to develop drone delivery service for prescription drugs”

Automation, drones, Google, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Alphabet’s Wing begins making first commercial drone deliveries in the US

October 28, 2019

Alphabet -owned drone delivery spin-out Wing is starting to service U.S. customers, after becoming the first drone delivery company to get the federal go-ahead to do so earlier this year. Wing is working with FedEx Express and Walgreens on this pilot, and their first customers are Michael and Kelly Collver, who will get a “cough and cold pack,” which includes Tylenol, cough drops, facial tissues, Emergen-C and bottled water (do people who have colds need bottled water?).

The Collvers are receiving their package in Christianburg, Va., which is where Wing and Walgreens will run this inaugural pilot of the drone delivery service. Walgreens gets a noteworthy credit in the bargain, becoming the first U.S. retailer to do a store-to-customer doorstep delivery via drone, while FedEx will be the first logistics provider to deliver an e-commerce drone delivery with a separate shipment.

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Food, Science & Technology News, Shopping, Uber

Uber moves into on-demand grocery delivery with acquisition of Cornershop

October 19, 2019

Uber is making moves into the highly competitive world of online grocery deliveries with the acquisition of a startup called Cornershop. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, will bolster the company’s efforts to expand into businesses outside its core ride-hailing service.

Cornershop, founded in 2015, is currently active in Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Canada, and it’s headquartered in Santiago. In a statement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company would seek to “scale their vision, and look forward to working with them to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform.” That will mean eventually launching the service in the US, though the deal is still subject to regulatory approval.

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Fashion, Science & Technology News, Shopping, women

De Beers Lightbox lab-grown diamonds will be sold at Bloomingdale’s and Reeds Jewelers

October 17, 2019

For just over a year, the only way to purchase Lightbox fashion jewelry made with lab-grown diamonds was through its website or through an occasional pop-up promotion. Now the brand owned by De Beers will begin testing the brick-and-mortar retail marketplace.

Beginning this month Lightbox jewels will be available at Bloomingdale’s department stores and Reeds Jewelers in a trial run to determine whether there is demand for lab-grown diamonds at $800 per carat in traditional retail environments. The initial rollout will include Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship in New York City and its San Francisco location. Independently owned and family run Reeds Jewelers will sell Lightbox diamond jewelry in 30 of its stores, primarily located in shopping malls throughout the Southeast.

Continue reading… “De Beers Lightbox lab-grown diamonds will be sold at Bloomingdale’s and Reeds Jewelers”

Clothing, Fashion, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Generation Z & the fast fashion paradox

October 9, 2019

If the last year or so has taught us anything about Generation Z – the age group born post-1996 – it’s that they’re environmentally woke. While millennials’ memories of adolescence might consist of MySpace and MSN, for today’s teens and early twentysomethings, school strikes and climate marches to protest the state of the Earth they’re set to inherit are just another Friday. Then there’s 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, an emblem of Gen Z climate-consciousness, who in the past month has dominated headlines for her carbon-neutral yacht expedition across the Atlantic to speak at the UN’s climate conference. Millennials may have been the first group to grow up with an awareness of the climate crisis but it’s their successors who are collectively taking action.

And yet when it comes to fashion – one of the most polluting industries on the planet – Gen Z presents something of a paradox. As the first cohort of digital natives, their coming-of-age has coincided with the height of social media and, subsequently, the advent of ultra-fast fashion brands that target young people online with enticing discounts and influencer partnerships. If sales are anything to go by, the strategy works: Boohoo PLC (which owns Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Nasty Gal among others) is expected to hit £1.9 billion in revenue by the end of this year. Environmentally engaged yet seduced by what’s new and ‘now’, it’s tricky to tell whether fashion in the hands of the youngest generation is moving towards a more sustainable model – or bound to be faster than ever.

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Amazon.com, Food, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Amazon reportedly has an ambitious plan to change the way we grocery shop — here’s what we know about it so far

October 6, 2019

Amazon is looking into creating a new grocery chain that would likely be separate from Whole Foods, according to The New York Times.

This new chain would blend aspects of online ordering and traditional shopping, and may be inspired by a 2017 internal memo circulated ahead of the Whole Foods acquisition.

The report also describes certain areas in which Amazon has struggled to integrate with Whole Foods, such as when it comes to cutting prices and incorporating the upscale grocer into its delivery system.

Amazon is brainstorming a new type of grocery store that would combine traditional shopping with online pickup, according to The New York Times. Such a move would mark another push by Amazon to establish dominance in the grocery shopping space following its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017.

Continue reading… “Amazon reportedly has an ambitious plan to change the way we grocery shop — here’s what we know about it so far”

drones, Science & Technology News, Shopping, UPS

UPS just won FAA approval to fly as many delivery drones as it wants

October 5, 2019

But don’t expect your next package delivery via drone

UPS announced that it has received government approval to operate a “drone airline.” Don’t expect your next package to arrive directly on your doorstep by a drone, though: UPS says it will first use this certification to build a drone delivery network for hospital campuses around the US. UPS said in July that it was seeking permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate the network, and today, it got just that.

Specifically, UPS’s drone delivery subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward, was granted a Part 135 Standard certification. Though drones might not seem like aircraft that need to be regulated like commercial airplanes do, the federal government evaluates them on similar footing. Drone delivery companies have to be certified by the FAA just like companies that fly planes.

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Green Friendly, Science & Technology News, Shopping, Solar Energy, Wind Power

IKEA will produce more energy than it consumes by 2020

October 2, 2019

It hopes to be ‘climate positive’ by 2030.

Many companies are pouring money into renewable energy, but how many can say they’re producing more than they need? IKEA thinks it will, at least. Its holding company Ingka revealed that IKEA will generate more renewable energy before the end of 2019 than the energy its stores use. The firm only expected to draw even by 2020. The furniture chain added that it had invested about $2.8 billion in solar and wind energy over the past decade, and told Reuters that it intended to continue funding that renewable tech, including two stakes in American solar farms this week.

The retailer expects to offer home solar panels in stores across all its markets in 2025. Ultimately, it plans to be climate-positive (reducing more emissions than it puts out) by 2030.

IKEA’s timing isn’t a coincidence. Like Google, Amazon and other companies, it’s using both the Global Climate Strike and the UN’s Climate Action Summit to build goodwill and avoid controversy. This isn’t a selfless act. With that said, the move could illustrate the next step for companies hoping to burnish their ecological credentials. Instead of merely striving for neutrality, more companies might try to counter the effects of climate change. There’s no guarantee they’ll act in a timely fashion, but it might be more a question of “when” than “if.”

Via Engadget.com

Amazon.com, Electric Vehicles, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Amazon taps truck startup Rivian to build 100,000 electric vans

September 30, 2019

Rivian, the startup electric truck manufacturer, will build 100,000 custom electric delivery vehicles exclusively for Amazon beginning in 2021, the companies said. — Amazon/dpa

Rivian, the startup electric truck manufacturer, will build 100,000 custom electric delivery vehicles exclusively for Amazon beginning in 2021, the companies have announced.

The huge order by Amazon represents a previously unrevealed commercial vehicle to be designed and built at Rivian’s factory in downstate Normal, alongside the manufacturer’s consumer-focused electric truck and SUV lines. Online retail giant Amazon is also a significant investor in Rivian.

“This has been in the works for some time,” Rivian spokeswoman Amy Mast said Thursday. “The idea that you can marry consumer applications to these more commercial applications … is just really exciting.”

Target production is to have 10,000 electric delivery vans on the road for Amazon by late 2022, ramping up to the full 100,000 order by 2030. The first of the new vans are expected to begin delivering packages in 2021, the companies said.

Continue reading… “Amazon taps truck startup Rivian to build 100,000 electric vans”

Automation, Drone, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Walgreens will start making drone deliveries in October

September 26, 2019

The process of refilling your prescription at the local pharmacy just got a lot more futuristic.

Wing — which is owned by Google parent company Alphabet — just announced a partnership with FedEx and Walgreens, a national grocery store chain, to start making drone deliveries in Virginia as soon as October.

Wing claims the “first-of-its-kind trial” will explore “ways to enhance efficiency of last-mile delivery services,” according to a press release.

Continue reading… “Walgreens will start making drone deliveries in October”