WalMart Stores has opened a new front in its battle with Amazon.com.<\/p>\n
The world\u2019s largest retailer has applied for a US patent for a floating warehouse that could make deliveries via drones, which would bring products from the aircraft down to shoppers\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n
The blimp-style machine would fly at heights between 500 feet and 1,000 feet (as much as 305 meters), contain multiple launching bays, and be operated autonomously or by a remote human pilot. Amazon was granted a patent for a similar vessel in April 2016.<\/p>\n
The migration to the skies represents the latest volley in a clash between WalMart and Amazon to grab shoppers\u2019 attention, loyalty and dollars.<\/p>\n
In the process, the companies are increasingly treading on the other\u2019s turf: Amazon is opening physical stores and agreed to pay $13.7 billion for upscale grocer Whole Foods Market. WalMart, meanwhile, has beefed up its e-commerce business through acquisitions and offers like free two-day shipping.<\/p>\n
An unmanned airborne warehouse – laden with drones – could help retailers lower the costs of fulfilling online orders, particularly the so-called \u201clast mile\u201d to a customer\u2019s house, which is usually handled by a local or national logistics company.<\/p>\n
To avoid that expense, WalMart and other retailers often encourage shoppers to pick up those orders at the store, where they might grab a few additional items. Earlier this week, Target agreed to acquire a software company that coordinates local deliveries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe core challenge of traffic and driving distance in any major city or in a very rural location can be helped by a floating warehouse,\u201d said Brandon Fletcher, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.<\/p>\n
\u201cMovable warehouses are a really nice idea because any flexible part of a logistics system allows it to be more efficient when demand varies wildly. The e-commerce world suffers from highly variable demand and more creative solutions are needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
A movable warehouse could serve a wider distribution area, Fletcher said, compared with a traditional warehouse that can only fill orders within a fixed driving distance. The airship could fly to one town and release a flock of drones to deliver packages, after which the drones would return to the vessel and restock while it flew to the next town.<\/p>\n
Such a system would be more efficient than having the drones fly back to a central distribution hub, according to research firm CB Insights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are numerous ways to distribute and deliver products,\u201d according to WalMart\u2019s patent application. \u201cGetting the product to a delivery location, however, can cause undesirable delays, can add cost and reduce revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n
WalMart\u2019s application stands a good chance of getting approved as it goes into more detail about the implementation of a gas-filled aircraft than Amazon\u2019s patent, which is a more general description of the concept of airborne-delivery systems, according to Khaled Fekih-Romdhane, managing partner at patent-licensing firm Longhorn IP.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time WalMart has shadowed Amazon\u2019s intellectual property. In October, it filed a patent application for a web-based system similar to Amazon\u2019s Dash buttons, which can quickly reorder household goods like paper towels or razor blades.<\/p>\n
The technology could also gather shopper data, such as how often a product is used and at what times of day.<\/p>\n
In recent years, WalMart has significantly stepped up its patent filings, many of which focus on web development and easing shoppers\u2019 journey through the store. The company has also filed a patent for in-store drones that would ferry products from the backroom to the sales floor.<\/p>\n