Survey: Drones cause excitement, anxiety among shoppers

Consumers see delivery drones as efficient, but also as carrying some risks to their purchases.

According to a new survey of 528 online shoppers from ratings/reviews platform Clutch, 36% of respondents are more likely to order an item if it will be delivered by drone. This is almost 50% more than the 25% who are less likely to place an online order with drone delivery but still less than the 39% who say drone delivery does not affect their online purchase decision.

Looking on the positive side of drone delivery, respondents said they are most excited about drone delivery being faster (33%) and cheaper (21%) than other shipping methods, although experts say that neither of those options may be consistently true.

On the negative side, respondents showed the most anxiety about drones damaging packages during delivery (20%), getting stolen or hacked (19%), or replacing jobs (18%). 

Millie Radovic, market analyst at market research & analytics company Drone Industry Insights, said that drone delivery will likely be a more expensive option until companies can scale their programs, although consumers may be willing to pay more for faster deliveries.

“Drones will offer a higher-end … option for deliveries,” Radovic said. “Drones will improve those delivery times further, bypassing traffic congestion or queues of deliveries.”