7-Eleven and CU start drone deliveries in pilot programs

Industry

Published: 06 Jul. 2022, 14:59 Updated: 06 Jul. 2022, 19:17

7-Eleven and CU start drone deliveries in pilot programs

A drone delivers products sold at CU at Yeongwol County, Gangwon. [BGF RETAIL]

Drone deliveries are becoming a reality in some areas as 7-Eleven and CU start limited trials.

CU drones will be plying the skies from its Yeongwol Jugong branch, in Yeongwol County, Gangwon, starting Friday, the company announced Wednesday.

Visitors to Oasis Glamping, a campsite 3.6 kilometers (2.2 miles) from the convenience store branch, will be able to order products and get them flown in by drone. CU says deliveries will take about 10 minutes to arrive.

The drones can only carry products lighter than 5 kilograms (11 pounds), and it will only deliver select products, such as ramyeon, water bottles, snacks, coffee and Hetbahn microwaveable rice. The convenience store chain plans to allow more products to be delivered by drone and provide the service to a wider scope of customers in the future.

Orders can be made via the Bohemian OS drone delivery application, and there is no delivery fee. Deliveries are offered on Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

7-Eleven's new branch in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi will a drone take-off and landing station for deliveries. The branch will open and start deliveries next week, although a specific date wasn't given.

The company will offer the drone delivery service for campers at nearby rental cottages. Orders can be made on the Allivery application, and drones will deliver products daily 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

GS Retail, which operates GS25, temporarily offered drone deliveries between June and October 2020, but only in Yeosu and on Jeju Island. Rather than having drone take-off and landing stations at the GS25 branches, the company had employees loaded ordered products at a nearby GS Caltex branch.

GS25 said it will offer drone delivery services in the future, but doesn't have specific plans yet.

Although convenience stores are aggressively competing with each other in the market, it may take a long time for the services to be offered in Seoul or other city areas.

According to the Consumer Logistics Service Industry Development Act, drones can't be used for delivery in the urban areas. The only exception is for services under regulatory sandbox programs.

The program is a policy initiative that allows companies to temporarily test innovative technologies without a change in regulations or laws. Under a regulatory sandbox program, Domino's Pizza Korea delivered pizzas using drones between August and October last year in Sejong.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]