Drone market set for “substantial growth”, but delivery drones still niche

A report from Gartner Group has forecast that the overall drone market will see “substantial growth”, but delivery drones “will not be a major factor for several years”. The new report, “Forecast: Personal and Commercial Drones, Worldwide, 2016.” , predicted that the global market revenue will increase by 34% to reach more than $6bn in 2017 and grow to more than $11.2bn by 2020. Almost three million drones will be produced in 2017, 39% more than in 2016.

But while personal drones will continue to increase in popularity, said Gartner, than $5,000, the market for commercial drones is “much smaller, with a significantly higher average selling price in comparison with personal drones”.

Gartner added: “Delivery drones continue to capture the attention of the news media but will not be a major factor for several years. The return on investment has not been proven either in regard to the cost of the drone, operational costs and a single customer delivery.”

Gerald Van Hoy, senior research analyst at Gartner, commented: “Delivery drones will be mired in logistical issues like the time needed to return a drone to its origin point after delivery, and will amount to less than 1 percent of the commercial market by 2020.

“We expect that delivery drones will begin finding a niche in business-to-business applications first, particularly for internal services within one company where logistics will not be such a big factor.”