Lowe’s Takes Drone Delivery for a Test Flight

Lowe’s Tests Drone Delivery for Small, Urgent Home-Improvement Items

Lowe’s is testing drone delivery as it looks to provide faster same-day service for customers who need small items to finish a home-improvement project.

The home-improvement retailer launched a pilot program Thursday at its store in Matthews, North Carolina, in partnership with DoorDash and Alphabet’s Wing. The program makes Lowe’s the first home-improvement retailer to use unmanned aerial vehicles for e-commerce fulfillment, according to the company.

The service is available only for selected products and customers in the pilot area. Orders are placed through the DoorDash app, where Lowe’s products are listed. During checkout, eligible customers can choose the drone delivery option.

Lowe’s said deliveries can arrive in as little as 20 minutes. The initial product selection is limited to smaller items weighing up to 2.5 pounds. Examples include hand tools, paint supplies, tape, batteries and soap.

The company said the service is intended for products that customers may overlook when planning a project but need quickly to complete the work. Because the pilot focuses on light items, it is not designed to replace conventional delivery for larger tools, building materials or other bulky merchandise.

For professional drivers and other delivery workers, the test illustrates how retailers are dividing orders among different transportation methods. Larger or heavier purchases will continue to require traditional store delivery, pickup or other ground transportation. Smaller, time-sensitive orders may increasingly be handled through app-based couriers or, where available, drones.

Lowe’s is joining an existing drone-delivery network in the Charlotte area. DoorDash and Wing already provide drone service for food and other retailers located at a shopping center in the region, including Panera. The partnership first launched drone delivery in Australia in 2022 and has since expanded in the United States to parts of southwest Virginia, the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Charlotte.

The Lowe’s pilot comes as retailers look for faster ways to meet customer expectations for same-day and near-immediate delivery. Large retailers are also competing with online marketplaces such as Amazon, which has its own drone-delivery technology.

Walmart has partnered with Wing on drone delivery in several U.S. markets. In July, the companies expanded the service in the Orlando, Florida, metropolitan area. The program initially operated from two supercenters and later added three more locations in Central Florida. Walmart previously introduced drone delivery in Houston, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Walmart and Wing are working toward offering drone delivery from more than 270 locations in nearly 20 metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami and Philadelphia, by 2027. The expansion remains dependent on regulatory approvals and operating conditions in each market.

Home Depot, Lowe’s primary home-improvement competitor, recently introduced nationwide express same-day delivery from its stores through DoorDash and the company’s network of on-demand drivers. That service uses ground-based delivery rather than drones and covers a broader range of products.

DoorDash has become an important distribution partner for retailers seeking to use existing delivery capacity without building a dedicated fleet for every market. Its platform connects customers with stores and delivery providers, while Wing supplies the aircraft and drone operations for eligible orders in areas where the service is available.

Drone delivery remains subject to regulatory requirements involving aviation safety, privacy and noise. Those issues become more significant as operators seek to serve denser neighborhoods and integrate unmanned aircraft into already crowded airspace.

For now, Lowe’s service is limited to one store and a small group of products in the Matthews pilot. The test will provide the retailer with experience using drones for home-improvement fulfillment while DoorDash and Wing continue expanding their existing network.