Walmart and Wing Bring Drone Delivery to Cincinnati — Right in Kroger's Backyard

Walmart has brought drone delivery to Cincinnati, Ohio, through its partnership with Alphabet subsidiary Wing, establishing autonomous grocery delivery operations in the metropolitan area that is home to Kroger's global headquarters. The Ohio launch is part of the 150-store expansion that Wing and Walmart announced in January 2026.

When the plan was revealed in January, Cincinnati was named alongside Houston, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Miami, and several other cities. Houston was the first to go live, on January 15, 2026.

Once the rollout is complete, Wing expects to operate from more than 270 Walmart locations by the end of 2027, with service projected to reach approximately 40 million Americans.

Cincinnati's inclusion carries significance less for the city itself than for the unmistakable signal it sends about where U.S. grocery competition is heading.

Wing's National Expansion Reaches Ohio

Cincinnati's addition comes during the most aggressive growth year Wing has seen since the partnership began. The 150-store push represents the largest single expansion Walmart has announced to date.

Wing's drones can fly at speeds of up to 60 mph (approximately 96.5 km/h) and deliver packages to customers' yards or driveways via a tether-lowering system, typically within 30 minutes of an order being placed.

Each flight carries a maximum payload of approximately 3 pounds (1.36 kg) — enough to handle a significant share of top-up shopping needs.

Behavioral data from mature markets is beginning to tell a meaningful story. Wing reports that the top 25% of drone delivery users in the Dallas–Fort Worth and Atlanta markets order an average of three times per week.

Total flight volume under the Wing–Walmart partnership tripled in the second half of 2025 compared to the first half — a growth trajectory that pilot programs simply do not produce.

What Cincinnati Consumers Can Actually Expect

Walmart and Wing have not yet disclosed specific store locations or a go-live date for Cincinnati. The broader rollout is described as phased, running from 2026 through 2027.

Eligible customers will be able to place orders through the Walmart–Wing channel and receive deliveries at a designated drop point on their property.

Image credit: Walmart

Deliverable items across existing Wing–Walmart markets span a wide range, including everyday groceries, over-the-counter medications, small electronics, and household essentials. Anything that fits in the tether basket and stays within the 3-pound limit qualifies.

Bulk groceries, large beverage bottles, full bags of ice, and substantial quantities of fresh produce are excluded. The service is positioned as rapid replenishment, not a full weekly shop.

Wing's model works, and it holds real advantages over Amazon's drone program. From an aviation standpoint, the tether-lowering design — in which the drone hovers at altitude while a cable lowers the delivery basket — is one of the most fault-tolerant configurations in this space, eliminating an entire category of accident risk that landing-based delivery cannot avoid.

Kroger's Drone History and the Symbolism of Walmart's Move

Kroger ran its own drone trial in the same region several years ago. In May 2021, Kroger partnered with Drone Express to launch an autonomous grocery delivery pilot from a Kroger Marketplace store in Centerville, Cincinnati — carrying up to 5 pounds within a 2-mile radius — before expanding the trial to the Dayton area later that year.

University of Cincinnati economist Michael Jones told 700WLW radio that Kroger ultimately discontinued the program. Walmart and Wing's entry into Cincinnati is widely read as a deliberate move — targeting precisely the technology that Kroger failed to commercialize.

University of Cincinnati economist Michael Jones. Image credit: University of Cincinnati

"Being able to bring this technology into the heart of Kroger's home turf is a signal Walmart is trying to send — that this technology is at least ready to try at a larger scale," Jones told the station.

Unit Economics Remain the Biggest Open Question

As reported by the University of Cincinnati, the question Walmart and Wing have yet to answer in any market — including Cincinnati — is whether unit economics can hold up without subsidized expansion. Jones noted that drone delivery currently costs more than traditional third-party delivery platforms.

FAA noise regulations and local ordinances governing drone operations in residential areas remain variables in flux. A city that welcomes drones at launch can reverse course quickly once early flights generate complaints.

On the cost model, a drone carrying no more than 3 pounds over a maximum of roughly 6 miles must compete with a DoorDash courier who can carry 30 pounds and service three addresses in a single run. Wing's argument rests on speed — and on per-unit costs that improve at scale.

The critical question is whether Cincinnati can generate sufficient order volume for economies of scale to materialize. "Can the industry get the cost of drone delivery low enough to sustain the investment?" Jones asked.

DroneXL Perspective

Here is an honest read of the situation: the Cincinnati launch is less about Cincinnati and more about handing Kroger a controlled embarrassment on its home turf.

Walmart is making the loudest possible statement — short of buying billboard space outside Kroger's headquarters — that the technology Kroger walked away from has since become national infrastructure.

Wing's data gives the move substance rather than theater: 3-pound payload, 30-minute delivery window, tether-drop delivery, 40 million Americans covered before 2027.

This is no longer a pilot program. It is a delivery network that Kroger cannot match before year-end.

For the rest of the grocery industry, the message is even blunter: drone delivery is now table-stakes capability. You either build it, partner for it, or hand it to a competitor operating in your own market.

The behavioral data from Dallas–Fort Worth and Atlanta is what should be keeping Kroger's board awake. The top 25% of users ordering three times a week is not a novelty curve — it is a purchasing habit forming around a competitor's logistics infrastructure.

If I held a seat on Kroger's board, that data would be impossible to look away from. There is a segment of consumers willing to pay a premium for speed, and they are not a marginal edge case.

The mother who discovers the baby formula is gone at 9 p.m. The household with a sick child who needs medication tonight. The cook who is halfway through a dinner party recipe and missing one ingredient.

These are not early adopters chasing novelty. They are customers willing to pay for something traditional grocery delivery cannot give them: time, measured in minutes.

Image credits: Walmart, University of Cincinnati

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