Videos show just how far ahead China's drone delivery is compared to the US

• The US is still in the relatively early stages of experimenting with drone delivery.
• Chinese companies, by comparison, have been doing it successfully at a larger scale for years.
• The difference highlights some of the ways that retail innovation is often tested first in China.

To see what the future of ultra-fast delivery looks like, just open TikTok.

Videos on the app feature influencers visiting a kiosk at a park in Shenzhen, browsing a screen of beverages and food sourced from multiple restaurants in the city, and then watching their order arrive roughly 20 minutes later via drone.

In one video, the drone hovers above the kiosk before descending down inside the structure. Moments later, a door slides open, revealing a package with the two teas the influencer ordered. The packaging can then be flattened and returned through a separate slot.

It's the sort of thing that looks downright futuristic to an American viewer but is increasingly normal in China.