Worldstores is to harness the power of drones when it launches airborne furniture deliveries later this year.
The online furniture retailer and flash sales platform is currently recruiting 100 pilots to fly the new fleet of delivery drones. At first, drop-fffs will be made within 100 miles of Worldstores’ operating bases in Northampton and and Peterborough, but the service could be extended if demand takes off. Pilots will work in groups of up to four pilots per furniture item to deliver sofas, garden furniture, cots and beds within an hour of the order being placed on Worldstores.co.uk and Kiddicare.com.
Worldstores co-chief executive Joe Murray said: “Having seen the development of similar initiatives take off in the online arena, we realised that the same technology could be adopted to cater for the home and garden market for items weighing up to 300kg.
“We have recently completed a successful trial from our Northampton where we successfully hit 95% of our targets, however we’re still working on a solution to ring the doorbell to alert customers that we’ve arrived!”
If the initiative proves successful over the next six months, Murray says that WorldStores plans to extend the service across the UK. “At the moment things are up in the air,” he said. “We’ve tested the service and technology and we know it works, however things can always come out of the blue.”
With the initial recruitment drive planned to be completed in the next few months, Worldstores believe the first pilot group will be recruited from middle-aged male hobbyists.
Worldstores operates brands including Casafina.co.uk and Modern.co.uk from its Twickenham base, where it employs 350 people and turns over more than £100m a year.
