Amazon Prime rises to prominence

Friday, January 10, 2014 - 13:41 by Mike Price

This month new figures published by Amazon, revealed that its Prime service has become more popular than ever, with a significant boost in customers achieved during the run-up to Christmas, according to Econsultancy.

Amazon Prime is a subscription-based platform that lets customers pay a flat fee and then enjoy free delivery of almost any product sold via safe shopping online, within two days of placing the order.

While many of Amazon's items are available with free delivery, buyers typically have to wait a few days longer than this, which makes Prime the more affordable option for those who want speedy access to items, but do not want to splash out on express delivery every time they make a purchase.

A million new Amazon Prime subscribers were added to its international user base during December 2013, as people prepared for the festive season and secured the pre-Christmas delivery of presents.

Amazon had a great end to the year as a whole, with sales on the busiest shopping day in December reaching almost 37 million globally, which is equivalent to about 426 items being bought every second for 24 hours.

The rise of Amazon Prime suggests that consumers are happy to pay a fee for delivery, as long as they are assured that it will be swift. And of course, this service gives them the opportunity to make the subscription costs go further by ordering more from Amazon.

Amazon clearly benefits from Prime because of the closer bond it creates with customers and it will be interesting to see whether any of its rivals create similar services for shopping online this year, as a result of its success.

Of course, high street chains have the advantage of offering click and collect facilities to customers who use their e-commerce sites, so Prime may not face as much competition.