Walgreens Launches Pilot Of On-Demand Drove Delivery -10/22/19

From the Simplr studios in San Francisco, this is your daily briefing.  

Introduction

With your E-Commerce Retail Briefing for today, Tuesday, October 22nd, I'm Vincent Phamvan.

Walgreens is officially piloting on-demand drone delivery. Eligible customers in designated delivery zones can now receive select packages via drone delivery. Walgreen is conducting the pilot in partnership with Wing Aviation.

First, here are some retail headlines.

Casper Sleep Working on IPO

According to a Bloomberg report, Casper Sleep is working with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group on an initial public offering. The online mattress seller’s IPO could occur by the end of this year, or in the first half of 2020. Casper could exceed $1.1 billion private valuation. According to Bloomberg, the IPO proceeds would help the retailer fund expansion, including storefronts.

Hudson's Bay Going Private

Hudson’s Bay Company has agreed to be taken private by a group of its shareholders. The investors have agreed to a deal of 10.30 Canadian dollars per share, a 62 percent premium over Hudson’s Bay’s most recent closing share price. In a press release, Hudson’s Bay said the deal offered a compelling value proposition given a deteriorating retail environment. The deal would be financed with debt and the company’s existing cash resources.

Groupon and Mindbody Partnership Grows

Online deals company, Groupon, announced they would grow their partnership with Mindbody. The expanded partnership is expected to give Groupon’s 29-million customer base a significantly larger selection of fitness, beauty, and wellness businesses offering deals in their local neighborhoods. The seamless real-time booking of wellness services via Groupon will also eliminate the need for vouchers or a call to the merchant to schedule an appointment. Experiential deals have increasingly been the focus for Groupon as research has shown that many millennial consumers prefer purchasing experiences over material possessions.

Walgreens Launches Pilot Of On-Demand Drove Delivery

Walgreens is officially piloting on-demand drone deliveries in Virginia. The drugstore giant is live with a trial of store to door deliveries of health and wellness, food and beverage, and convenience items via drone delivery. Walgreens is conducting the pilot in partnership with Wing Aviation, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet. Launch of the pilot makes Walgreens the first retailer to offer on-demand drone delivery service in the U.S.

The companies are running the test in conjunction with FedEx. Eligible FedEx Express customers who live within designated delivery zones and opt into the Wing delivery service can receive select packages by drone. Customers in the area have access to more than 100 products and six pre-built packs of items through the Wing app. In a statement, a Walgreens executive said quote, “Today is a great day for the future of consumer convenience...This industry-first drone delivery pilot with Wing expands our omnichannel offerings to provide customers the products they need wherever, whenever, and however they want them,” end quote.

Closing

Find out how Simplr can cut your customer response time through cutting-edge technology and on-demand talent at simplr.ai. That’s S-I-M-P-L-R.ai. Thanks for listening to the latest episode of the Retail E-Commerce Briefing. See you tomorrow.