Amazon Prime has 85m subscribers, spending $1,300 each

With Amazons Prime Day starting later today, a CIRP report has revealed that the service now has 85m subscribers in the US alone – thats 63 per cent of its entire customer base in the country.

That means Prime subscribers have increased by a third since last year, and doubled over the past two years. Quarter-to-quarter growth is slowing, as is probably to be expected, given the penetration Amazon has achieved.

The reports most important finding, though, is that Prime leads to customers spending far more with Amazon.

Prime members make a purchase on average 25 times a year, compared to 14 times for normal customers. That drives an average spend of around $1,300 (£10,000) per year, compared to $700.

“Amazon Prime membership encourages much more frequent shopping, likely because the free shipping benefit knocks down a key barrier to buying online often and makes Amazon their first stop for online purchases,” said Mike Levin, partner and co-founder of CIRP. “Otherwise, Amazon Prime members buy the same number of items per visit, and spend roughly the same amount per visit as non-Prime members.”

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