Dive Brief:
- According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Amazon Prime membership has grown 35% over the last year to reach 85 million members per Marketing Land.
- Because Amazon doesn’t release its Prime member numbers, the CIRP report is based on extrapolations from an Amazon regulatory filing that listed $6.4 billion in revenue from “retail subscription services,” a line item in the report. Estimates from the listing have a degree of error as Amazon offers monthly and yearly Prime options at different price points — $10.99 for monthly and $99 for yearly.
- Prime members get free two-day shipping on many items sold by Amazon along with other benefits including Prime Video with streaming movies, shows, sports and original content. Prime members will be able to stream 10 NFL Thursday Night Football games this upcoming season.
Dive Insight:
It's hard to find a relevant comparison to Amazon Prime's membership numbers as it is such a unique combination of e-commerce and streaming video. On the streaming side, Netflix's membership grew to 98.75 million in Q1, although the net adds were lower than expected.
The ongoing growth in Prime membership illustrates how effective the service has become as a marketing piece within Amazon’s overall strategy. And with Amazon continuing to add new features and benefits to the service, growth could continue. For example, the popularity of Amazon's digital home assistant Alexa and its related hardware like the Echo give members another way to take advantage of benefits like streaming music and free shipping. Amazon's plans to acquire Whole Foods potentially brings grocery delivery to via the platform to more consumers.
Prime is a way for Amazon to keep customers glued to the e-commerce giant. The free expedited shipping offered to members is an online shopping convenience while additional benefits like Prime Video keep people within the Amazon ecosystem. Amazon even created its own version of the holiday shopping season’s Cyber Monday with its Prime Day promotion, scheduled for 30 hours this year beginning at 9 p.m. on July 10 with exclusive deals for Prime members.
