Amazon's 101 Million US Prime Members Average $1,400 in Annual Spending, Says CIRP

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners projected Amazon has 101 million Prime customers in the U.S., or 62 percent of its customers nationwide, up from 26 million in December 2013. Prime members spend on average about $1,400 a year, compared with $600 for non-Prime members, CRP said Thursday. Though membership growth has slowed to about 10 percent annually, it continued steadily in the holiday quarter and is “still significant on a huge base and after years of rapid growth,” said analyst Josh Lowitz. Breaking out Prime membership, Lowitz said 58 percent pay annually, 36 percent pay a monthly fee and 7 percent have a free trial, are members on some other basis such as sharing a membership or don’t know the fee structure. Flattening Prime membership growth is changing the nature of membership, said analyst Mike Levin, saying the third of members who pay monthly can leave and rejoin at any time, even though the $119 annual fee is less than the monthly fee total for 12 months ($156). The more transient members “obviously don’t have the same commitment to Amazon shopping and the suite of Prime member services,” he noted. Findings were based on surveys of 500 U.S. customers who made a purchase at Amazon October-December.