Drones can deliver groceries in 15 minutes. Czech retailers now testing take-off from retail park parking lots

An analysis by Colliers shows that as drone networks expand, the properties (locations) from which drones take off are becoming increasingly important. These are not new buildings but unused sections of parking lots and back areas of existing shopping centers, retail parks and supermarkets. Such locations could also become drone delivery bases in the Czech Republic: the technology is now being tested in pilot projects. According to Colliers, delivery cost and range depend more on the density of the launch site network than on the technology itself.

China is the furthest along in drone delivery, but the USA is catching up quickly. Retail giants Walmart and Amazon are setting the pace. At the end of May 2026, Walmart announced it had completed one million drone deliveries. Drone operators Wing and Zipline are also reporting progress, as is delivery platform DoorDash, which has added drones to its network alongside cars and couriers. Typical deliveries include restaurant meals, groceries to quickly restock household supplies, drugstore items and over-the-counter medications. Drones have proven most useful when a customer needs only a few items and is willing to pay extra for fast, convenient delivery.

Only dense coverage will make drone delivery cost-effective

The economics of an individual delivery do not yet favor drones, even though one remote pilot can oversee up to 32 drones. Estimates put the cost of a drone delivery at roughly 13.50 USD in 2025, compared with around 2 USD for a delivery by conventional vehicle.

“The cost per shipment falls as the number of takeoff points in a metropolitan area rises. The denser the network, the shorter the flights and the cheaper each delivery becomes. Drone economics are therefore driven less by better machines than by the availability of suitable properties. Securing suitable sites is the key factor that shapes the entire cost curve,” explains Blanka Sovová, director of the Retail Real Estate Department at Colliers.

Drones take off from suburban parking lots

The first commercial operations have grown up in densely built-up suburbs. Here, households and businesses lie within a short flight, there are few obstacles in the air and drones do not have to weave between high-rise buildings. Amazon is building launch pads of approximately 1,860 m² in the parking lots of its distribution centers around Chicago. From there, drones are expected to serve a radius of about 12 kilometers. DoorDash and Wing have launched their service from an outlet mall in the Atlanta metropolitan area, with a range of up to 6.5 kilometers. Zipline’s network in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area includes more than 25 public sites, such as parks and a university campus. It handles thousands of orders a day, with an average flight time of about three minutes.

“Drone infrastructure doesn’t require new construction. It can make do with an unused section of a parking lot or the back area of an existing shopping center. For property owners, the deciding factor is whether their building can support such operations technically and process-wise,” adds Blanka Sovová.

Europe starts in Ireland

In Europe, Irish company Manna leads the way. Since its founding in 2019, the company has completed more than 250,000 commercial deliveries and now operates in Ireland, Finland and Texas in the US. Its stations sit in the parking lots of suburban shopping centers and take up roughly five parking spaces.

The European Union has long been preparing for drones. The European Commission’s 2022 Drone Strategy 2.0 estimates that the European drone services market could be worth 14.5 billion EUR by 2030 and create 145,000 jobs. The key to routine operations above populated areas is U-space: a unified European drone traffic management system. The Czech Republic is among the first EU countries to implement it.

The Czech Republic is still testing

In the Czech Republic, drone delivery remains limited to demonstrations and pilot projects. E-commerce site Mall.cz was the first to test it in November 2016. Under the supervision of the Civil Aviation Authority, its drone flew a package 1.7 kilometers from the company’s distribution center in Jirny to Zelenec in three minutes. However, the service has not yet entered regular operations. In January 2023, Czech delivery company Dodo tested a drone flight with the Rossmann drugstore chain in Budapest, covering 15 kilometers in 14 minutes. In March 2025, Aerovision opened a development center for delivery drones at Příbram airport. Since December 2025, the foodora platform has been using three autonomous ground robots to deliver orders from McDonald’s restaurants within a radius of about two kilometers in Prague’s Karlín neighborhood. If the pilot succeeds, the company plans to expand the service to other cities. It is also testing drones abroad.

“Czech customers are accustomed to fast, contactless delivery, and parcel lockers already occupy part of the parking lots at supermarkets and retail parks. If drone operations are liberalized after the launch of U-space, shopping centers and retail parks on the outskirts of cities and in the suburban belts of large metropolitan areas will have a head start. They have available parking spaces and can serve the surrounding area with a short flight. Owners should determine now whether their property is suitable for a takeoff area,” concludes Blanka Sovová.