Theft is the major concern for American's over drone delivery services
As retailers prepare to release drone delivery programs in the USA, it would appear attention needs to be given to remove customer concerns. 79% of American's would pick a drone delivery service if their products could be delivered in under an hour, according to a survey published by Walker Sands, but the survey also reported an increase in the concern of product theft using the service, with 72% of respondents saying they do not trust drone delivery, a rise of 20% from last year. 

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Drone deliveries are close to becoming a reality, and consumers are becoming more comfortable with the idea. But they still have one pressing concern.

A new Walker Sands survey revealed that 79% of U.S. consumers would be very or somewhat likely to choose drone delivery if it could occur within one hour.

But the major concern is theft, as 72% of respondents cited package theft at the reason they do not trust drone delivery. This is up from 58% who cited that same concern in 2015.

Most consumer concerns surrounding drones, however, have lessened in the past year, likely because consumers are becoming more familiar with drones as adoption rises. Consumer drone shipments will surpass 7.3 million in 2016, according to estimates from BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service.

Retailers have slightly less than two years to assuage consumers' concern because the Federal Aviation Administration is required to finalize rules and regulations for drone delivery at that time. In the meantime, retailers in the U.S. are itching to unleash their drone delivery programs in the U.S.

Amazon, in particular, has been extremely vocal about its Prime Air delivery system, which it has been developing since 2013 and testing since last year. Walmart, too, has been testing drones since October for curbside pickup, home delivery, and warehouse inventory management.

Drones turned the corner in 2015 to become a popular consumer device, while a framework for regulation that legitimizes drones in the U.S. began to take shape. Technological and regulatory barriers still exist to further drone adoption.

Drone manufacturers and software providers are quickly developing technologies like geo-fencing and collision avoidance that will make flying drones safer. The accelerating pace of drone adoption is also pushing governments to create new regulations that balance safety and innovation.

Safer technology and better regulation will open up new applications for drones in the commercial sector, including drone delivery programs like Amazon’s Prime Air and Google’s Project Wing initiatives.

Jonathan Camhi, research analyst for BI Intelligence has compiled a detailed drones report that forecasts sales revenues for consumer, enterprise, and military drones. It also projects the growth of drone shipments for consumers and enterprises.

The report details several of world’s major drone suppliers and examines trends in drone adoption among several leading industries. Finally, it examines the regulatory landscape in several markets and explains how technologies like obstacle avoidance and drone-to-drone communications will impact drone adoption.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

We project revenues from drones sales to top $12 billion in 2021, up from just over $8 billion last year.

Shipments of consumer drones will more than quadruple over the next five years, fueled by increasing price competition and new technologies that make flying drones easier for beginners.

Growth in the enterprise sector will outpace the consumer sector in both shipments and revenues as regulations open up new use cases in the US and EU, the two biggest potential markets for enterprise drones.

Technologies like geo-fencing and collision avoidance will make flying drones safer and make regulators feel more comfortable with larger numbers of drones taking to the skies.

Right now FAA regulations have limited commercial drones to a select few industries and applications like aerial surveying in the agriculture, mining, and oil and gas sectors.

The military sector will continue to lead all other sectors in drone spending during our forecast period thanks to the high cost of military drones and the growing number of countries seeking to acquire them.

In full, the report:

Compares drone adoption across the consumer, enterprise, and government sectors.

Breaks down drone regulations across several key markets and explains how they’ve impacted adoption.

Discusses popular use cases for drones in the enterprise sector, as well as nascent use case that are on the rise.

Analyzes how different drone manufacturers are trying to differentiate their offerings with better hardware and software components.

Explains how drone manufacturers are quickly enabling autonomous flight in their products that will be a major boon for drone adoption.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

START A MEMBERSHIP Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the world of drones.