Of the 4P’s of marketing – Product, Promotion, Price, and Place – perhaps the greatest change over the last two decades has been to Place. Getting products to the right place at the right time to be purchased or collected by consumers is a very logistical element to marketing that has been greatly affected by e-commerce and online ordering since the advent of the internet. FedEx and Amazon have been offering same-day delivery for several years on orders, but it seems that Amazon has decided to take it a step further.
Amazon Prime Air, a new delivery system reliant on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), promises delivery within thirty minutes – by having a drone fly your package directly to your door for drop-off. This is an exciting prospect; the thought of ordering a package and having it dropped off at your door within the hour is faster than would seem possible. However, there are some logistical concerns that would first need to be addressed by the company before its target launch in 2015.
The most pressing concern would be the location of Amazon warehouses throughout continental North America. They do not have a presence in each state or province of the United States and Canada, so they would likely have to undergo a massive expansion to make this undertaking feasible. In addition, it is currently unknown how weather would affect the delivery of products in such a manner. The company has indicated they are also waiting for Federal Aviation Administration approval to be able to launch the system.
Despite these hurdles, there is no doubt that Amazon has both the resources and capital to make these plans come to light. More information about the project can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=8037720011