As drone use becomes more mainstream for many non-military industrial uses from real estate to construction to security, the utility of using drones for shipping is readily apparent. Drones can ease or eliminate factors that make shipping costly and time-consuming. Consider the advantages of transitioning to a drone fleet over your current delivery model.
Financial Benefits
Drones require less fuel (and cleaner fuel) than traditional shipping methods, and can deliver more packages faster. Operational costs plummet when businesses swap vehicles and drivers out for lower-maintenance drones and operators. Analysis conducted by Gartner, Inc. found that the effective use of drones could drop a company’s costs for shipping by margins of 40%-70% from standard shipping methods.
These financial benefits extend beyond the line-item cost of shipping by increasing the profitability of the company overall. This cost savings has multi-fold benefits: less funds and space needed to purchase, keep, and maintain in-house vehicles and lower vehicle insurance. Or, if you depend upon outside shipping services, you are not subject to their fluctuating shipping fees. These cost savings can be used to invest in other aspects of your business, such as increasing market share or expanding operations.
Increased flexibility and profitability also means a greater return on investment to shareholders or other owners.
Time Management Benefits
The ability to deliver products quickly and efficiently is an excellent way to separate your company from its competitors. Straight-line delivery means quick delivery times, especially when you factor in the high speeds at which drones can travel.
With your own fleet of delivery drones, you control the time of delivery, able to track shipments in real-time, knowing precisely if and when your customers receive their packages. This means your customer’s satisfaction is not dependent upon whether the shipper you hired will deliver the package on time. Instead, you can control and schedule shipment delivery accurately, or even offer customers the convenience of dictating delivery times.
Further, the ability to move packages to customers rapidly and efficiently allows you to ship more orders out in a given period. Shipping is no longer the bottleneck that limits the amount of business you can handle.
Accuracy Benefits
Because drones can travel straight-line to their intended destination, they are not hindered by bad roads, traffic, winding routes, or out-of-the-way destinations. Since they are guided by GPS, they don’t get lost.
Accordingly, drones can minimize the chance that human error will cost your company time and expense. Drones have technologically advanced navigation software that enables you to deliver goods accurately and quickly. And because this technology is cutting-edge, you can create the advantage of offering what your competitors can’t.
Accessibility Benefits
As noted above, standard delivery methods make it difficult and costly to ship to out-of-the way locations. This means that part of your potential market may not be purchasing from you because you cannot deliver to their location. But drone technology changes that.
If you can offer quick and efficient delivery to a segment of the market that is normally bypassed, you can expand your customer base, and capture a market that others cannot reach. With features such as vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), drones can reach individuals in remote and geographically hostile locations that may usually be inaccessible for conventional shipping methods.
Safety Benefits
Drones can bypass not only traffic, but any of the difficulties that may beset normal delivery routes: road construction, public unrest, crime, vandalism, and so on. Your trained drone operator, sitting in comfort at the office, is not subject to these harms and hindrances. And Your customers do not have to meet strangers at their doors to accept packages.
Pilotless aircraft devices are efficient and environmentally friendly, and will revolutionize the shipping industry. Get ahead of competitors by using shipping drones to expedite your shipping service. Reach out to our team at xCraft to see how drones can take your business to the next level.
