Amazon’s Jeff Bezos may have dreamed up a world where drones deliver packages to your door but Alibaba seems to be the company that’s bringing it to reality. The Chinese e-commerce giant will be running a testing phase for the service that will last a couple of days and will deliver a pre-set list of products to around 450 customers in certain parts of Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai.
Alibaba is now in the testing phases of delivering packages by drone, according to a post on Taobao’s website (h/t 36kr). Bringing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ dream into reality, Alibaba’s major online marketplace Taobao has partnered with Shanghai YTO Express to run a test program from February 4 to 6. 450 customers will get the chance to have their goods delivered by drone. The items on the pre-set list of available products include brown sugar, menstrual cramp relief medication, and ginger tea. Packages, which must weigh less than 340 grams, will be delivered within one hour. Customers must live within a certain radius of specific distribution sites in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai.