Lowe's is putting screwdrivers, painter's tape and caulk in the air, teaming with Alphabet-owned Wing and DoorDash to launch what the retailer calls the first drone-delivery service from a US home-improvement chain.
The Pilot At A Glance
Announced September 24, 2026, the pilot begins from a single Lowe's store in Matthews, North Carolina — a Charlotte suburb about 30 miles from the retailer's Mooresville headquarters. Wing's fixed-wing/rotor hybrid drones will fly up to 2.5 pounds of merchandise from the store to residential yards, with delivery quoted as fast as 20 minutes after checkout. More than 100 SKUs are eligible at launch.
How Ordering Works
Customers place orders through the DoorDash app rather than Lowe's own e-commerce funnel, a first for the retailer. DoorDash coordinates order routing and last-yard hand-off, while Wing handles airspace management under its FAA Part 135 certification. "By piloting drone delivery, we're addressing a real project pain point," said Seemantini Godbole, Lowe's Chief Information and AI Officer, referring to the mid-project store run that stalls DIY jobs.
Why It Matters
Home-improvement retail has been slower to adopt drone delivery than groceries or restaurants, largely because typical basket items (lumber, drywall) exceed drone payload limits. Lowe's said the SKU list is designed to hit a "forgot to grab" segment. The pilot follows Walmart and Wing's nationwide expansion and Amazon's Portland Prime Air permit.
What's Next
Lowe's VP of Technology Rajiv Raghunathan said the program could expand to additional stores after the Matthews pilot proves out unit economics. Wing has publicly disclosed a target of one million deliveries per year across US launch markets by end-2027 — a scale that would put drone delivery on par with Uber Eats-sized regions.
Reporting based on coverage from Retail Dive and CNBC.