Amazon Prime U.S. membership keeps growing

According to a research report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, LLC (CIRP), Amazon Prime memberships has doubled in size in two years.

The report estimates that Amazon Prime now has 80 million U.S. members, spending an average about $1,300 per year. Compare this to non-member spending of about $700 per year.

At the end of Q1 2017, CIRP estimates that about 60% of U.S. Amazon customers are Prime members.

AMAZON DOES NOT DISCLOSE ACTUAL PRIME MEMBER NUMBERS

But, in Amazon’s Q4 2016 financial release, Amazon disclosed figures that allow a rough estimate of Amazon Prime membership.

For the fiscal year 2016, Amazon revealed $6.4 billion in worldwide “Retail subscription services.” This figure includes Amazon Prime fees and various forms of digital media subscription fees.

Another interesting finding is that CIRP estimates 26% percent of Amazon Prime members pay their membership monthly. Amazon started to offer monthly memberships at $10.99 in April 2016.

The monthly memberships seemed to be popular with customers and contributed to the significant growth in Prime memberships.

KEEPING COMPETITION AT BAY WITH PRIME

Recent news about Walmart targeting Amazon for online sales has been steady. But the fact remains with consumer invested in Prime memberships, most customers will shop at Amazon before going to another marketplace.

Recently Walmart dropped their $50 per year Prime like shipping program for offering two-day free shipping to all customers.

That move by Walmart was squarely aimed at attracting Amazon shoppers that are not Prime members.

AMAZON PRIME IS SO MUCH MORE THAN SHIPPING

Most Amazon customers consider Prime not just an expedited shipping program. They also value many of the other benefits like TV shows, movies, music, and cloud storage.

The critically acclaimed Amazon produced shows and movies, along with a decent selection of on-demand music, make the shipping service a bonus. And for this year, Amazon added Thursday night NFL Football.

MARKETPLACE SELLERS BENEFIT FROM AMAZON PRIME

For Amazon third-party marketplace sellers this also provides a large audience of Amazon eye-balls. If you sell on Amazon using Amazon FBA, Prime members receive the same shipping and customer support they know and love from Amazon sold products.

So if you are not selling on Amazon yet, this is another report that should convince you to do so. Walmart may be growing and in the news, but before you think about any marketplace, Amazon has to be first.

Richard Meldner

Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.

To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.