Among the top-selling items on Amazon’s Prime Day are . . . . Prime memberships. What better way to market Prime status than to offer door-buster type deals to customers, so that they can get 30-40% off that 75 inch QLED Smart 4K TV. But then at least the price of membership also gets other perks including shipping, Whole Foods specials, and web streaming that last for a full year. Another reason why Prime Day in July is a welcome jolt to a typically slow summer selling season. Whether the Prime Day effect will spill over to non-Amazon retailers remains to be seen.
A Wall Street Journal article discusses more on this topic which is excerpted below.
Amazon.com Inc. and other big retailers kicked off an annual July sales event that has come to rival Black Friday in terms of discounts and the surge in online shopping.
But for the e-commerce giant, the Prime Day event isn’t just about selling discounted Instant Pots or Levi’s jeans. It is another way to tighten its grip on shoppers by getting them to enroll in its Prime membership program, which adds an important revenue stream and loyal customers.
Last year, Amazon said more than 100 million people around the globe were paying for Prime. The company has expanded the program by adding discounts at its Whole Foods grocery chain, a video-streaming service and also offering one-day or faster shipping in many markets. It raised the annual price of Prime membership to $119 from $99 last year. It also offers a plan for $12.99 a month.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group
