Every day, businesses are looking for a competitive advantage to propel their business. The unmanned systems industry is a highly untapped. This incredibly beneficial emerging market can boost profitability across hundreds of industries. There are so many uses for drones, including using unmanned aerial vehicle (uav) drones in a commercial drone capacity, whether you are in the drone industry- or not.
The unmanned systems industry is also somewhat of a mystery and secret to many. It’s often thought of as a pure consumer-related industry.
Drones are so much more than just recreational!
Every day, Xelevate is approached by companies who are completely surprised that drones are being used in their non-drone related industry.
They are very surprised that drones can save their business a ton of money too.
Businesses that spend money on drones can:
- Boost their bottom line
- Make them more profitable within a year
- Create new business opportunities with high return on investment
Using drones in your (non-drone industry) business can make your business money. A lot of money! …0r maybe you want to partake in the drone industry itself?
The drone industry is a booming market that isn’t matured yet, ripe with potential.
The below statistics on consumer uses of drones show:
- Drones are here for good. (according to the Federal Aviation Administration Summer 2020 symposium)
- Drone industry participants will reap the benefit of an emerging market
- Smart businesses that use drones stand to make a lot of money
- Buying patterns across different industries reveal drone usage is increasing in sectors completely unrelated
So, without further wait, here are some compelling statistics that show how using drones creates large return on investment.
- Delivering items with semiautonomous and autonomous vehicles cuts delivery costs from 10-40% in cities.
- The Commercial Drones Market is projected to balloon to $6.30 Billion by 2026.
- Crop spraying by drones is 40-60% times faster than manual spraying, according to DroneFly, creating a compelling need from drones in agriculture.
- 88% of companies saw positive return on investment in one year or less using drones to support business operations.
- Over 90% of companies that are using drones admitted that drones help their company capture more information, be more efficient, and save time.
- 10% of companies with $50+ million revenue currently use drones, and more than a 33% of construction and engineering firms use drones today in their industry
- To maintain dominance in the e-commerce world, retail tycoons Amazon and Walmart both recently began piloting drone delivery tests for groceries and other household items, in partnership with unmanned systems companies and the FAA.
- The global consumer drones' market was valued at approximately $2.09 billion in 2018 and is projected to almost double to $4.05 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.0% through 2022.
- Over 32 countries worldwide see the value in drone military and defense applications and are accordingly developing and manufacturing approximately 100 military and law enforcement related UAVs.
- The transportation sector is projected to be the second largest sector in the drone industry by 2024, only second to the energy sector.
- By the beginning of July 2018 over 929,000 individuals registered as modelers (with multiple equipment ownership) and over 206,000 registered equipment for use in commercial purposes, more than 1.1 million users have registered by the end of June.
- The recreational UAS fleet is projected to more than double in size in the next 5 years, up to as high as 1.66 million registered units.
- In five years, the commercial UAS fleet is projected to be 3 – 4.5 times larger than where it is currently at 277,000.
- Global demand for drones in the insurance industry will have a market value of $3.57 billion, which includes over 1.55-million-unit sales of UAV hardware, software, and service spending between 2017-2025 to support insurance claims, property appraisals, and risk assessments.
- Utah’s Department of Transportation (UDOT) has found drones so beneficial in land surveys that it increased their fleet of drones to over 40 for drone surveys in 2019, from a pilot program in 2011.
- Using drone mapping for site surveys creates 100,000 times the data in only a quarter of the time.
- The use of K-12 Robotic Toolkits (including drones) in STEM education programs is expected to increase at a CAGR of 18%, growing by over $319M from 2020 to 2024.
- Data deriving from a drone solar inspection is 99% accurate, and inspecting solar farms by drone can be up to 46% less costly than a manual solar farm inspection.
- The unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) market is estimated at $522.6 Million in 2020, and is projected to reach a US$1.2 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 13.2% from 2020-2027. The Defense USV segment itself is projected to grow even faster than the overall market, at a 14.1% CAGR to hit $949.4 Million by 2027.
- The drone racing market is expected to triple in market value to approximately US$ 786 M by 2027.
- Digital Aerolus successfully developed the first indoor drone using C-band ultraviolet (UVC) lights to stunt the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus with a greater than 99% disinfection rate.
- Drone Pilot salaries in the US are at $110,200 for the 90th percentile in 2020.
- Consumer grade drones (on average costing $2500) currently lead the commercial UAS sector at a market share approaching 94%.
- The market for commercial drone pilots is projected to increase up to triple what it is in 2019, to 1,197,000 commercial pilots in 2024.
- Venture capitalists saw promise in the rapidly expanding drone consumer and commercial markets, investing in over $2.6 billion in drone companies from 2012 through June 2019.
- Pilotless industrial drones are now a new way of business in the new world of COVID-19, as the FAA provided waiver approval to operate BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) in just 24 hours to companies such as Airobotics.
- 83% of home sellers prefer to use the services of a real estate agent who uses drones.
- Top performing real estate agents take advantage of drone services 3.5 times more than real estate agents with low performance.
- Walmart drone delivery partner, UAS manufacturer Flytrex, has successfully produced drones that carry up to 6.6 pounds (6-8 hamburgers) at 32mph for a round trip delivery of 7 miles.
- The market for commercial global fixed with hybrid vertical take-off and land (VTOL) UAVs is projected to boom from $124M in 2017 to $1.65B in 2028.
- The entertainment, advertising, and corporate events industries are turning to drone light shows to captivate targeted audiences, starting at a base cost of $18,400 for a 100-unit drone light show.
- Traditional pickup and delivery methods generated approximately 26 to 28 times more emissions than drone delivery, respectively, demonstrating that drones are energy efficient and have minimal impact to climate change.
- Sales of drones are expected to triple between 2018 and 2024.
It’s clear that drone use is increasingly being used in different industries. The number of industries using drones is skyrocketing as the days go by.
To boost your company’s profit and productivity in your industry, consider giving thought to using a drone for cost-efficiency or safety means.
Your bottom line will thank you.
We’d love to hear from you! How have you used drones in your business to boost your company’s success?
