Majority of US Customers Are Prime Members for First Time
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) today released second quarter 2106 analysis of buyer shopping patterns for Amazon, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
This analysis indicates that Amazon Prime now has 63 million US members, spending on average about $1,200 per year, compared to about $500 per year for non-members. The current membership estimate compares to an estimated 44 million US members at the end of the June 2015 quarter, or an increase of 43%.
As of June 30, 2016, CIRP estimates that in the US, 52% of Amazon customers are Prime members, the first quarter where a majority of US Amazon customers were Prime members (Chart 1).
Chart 1: US Amazon Prime Members
US Amazon Prime membership continued its strong growth over the past 12 months. Amazon added a net 19 million members since July 2015, compared to an increase of 16 million members in July 2014-June 2015 period. Amazon promoted the service aggressively starting with the first Prime Day in July 2015, and continuing with exclusive product offers and enhanced services throughout the year.
In the April-June 2016 quarter, US Amazon Prime membership grew 9%, compared to 7% in the same quarter last year.
Prime is a somewhat different service than it was two years ago. Amazon has expanded its media offerings greatly, including exclusive video content, HBO programs, streaming music, and now personal photo storage. Prime also offers a much richer environment for Amazon device owners, with access to free Kindle books, the improved video library for Fire TV, and Prime music and shopping tightly integrated into the Alexa service on Echo devices. In addition, Amazon recently introduced a monthly payment option, which may succeed in opening the market to a new a group of potential members. About 22% of Prime members that joined Amazon Prime in the quarter opted for the monthly payment plan.
CIRP bases its findings on surveys of 500 US subjects who made a purchase at Amazon.com in the period from April-June 2016. For additional information, please contact CIRP.