Amazon US Prime Sign-Ups Slow Despite Expanded Promotion, Data Shows (reuters.com) 22
An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon doubled its Prime Day discount sales to four days this year and touted blowout numbers days after the event. But by one critical metric, it missed the mark. Sign-ups in the U.S. failed to meet last year's total and even the company's own target, according to internal company data reviewed by Reuters.
The world's largest online retailer registered 5.4 million U.S. sign-ups over the 21-day run-up to Prime Day and its four-day sales event from July 8 to July 11. That was around 116,000 fewer than for the same period a year earlier and 106,000 below the company's own goal, a roughly 2% decline in both metrics.
The world's largest online retailer registered 5.4 million U.S. sign-ups over the 21-day run-up to Prime Day and its four-day sales event from July 8 to July 11. That was around 116,000 fewer than for the same period a year earlier and 106,000 below the company's own goal, a roughly 2% decline in both metrics.
Ads on Prime Video (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Why pay for Prime when I don't need to worry about stuff next day anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
We spend a shitload on Amazon purchases. I have not looked at it in a while, but one year it was around $10K. The $140/year or whatever for prime was not really noticeable.
But now I'm curious. When I get my computer all hooked back up and functional, I'll do an analysis and see what we spent in 2024.
I do expect our spending to dwindle down in future years though. If for no other reason than we're running out of shit to buy.
Re: (Score:1)
reverse here, i couldn't care less about prime video (nor any other streaming service actually), but at 50 euro a year prime is a steal. it pays for itself in just a few deliveries, even if i too try to group them together. i think it would even at 120 euro ($140), i never did the math. the fast delivery is just a nice perk, and can get you out of a pinch. they're losing a bit of profit with me but keeping a happy customer. i have checked prices and they are usually on par or very slightly higher. other tha
Price up, benefits down (Score:5, Insightful)
They increased the price and decreased the benefits of membership (have to pay for ad-free streaming). Plus, they've more or less hit the saturation point. No wonder growth has stalled.
Re: (Score:1)
That's in part because a lot of products sold via third-party sellers on Amazon are fulfilled by Walmart or Target by retail arbitrageurs.
Amazon (Score:4, Informative)
I'm not in the US but over the last ... 20 years? I have turned Prime on and off several times a year.
Why? Because the delivery benefits only really work if I'm having something delivered which, though I order items from Amazon all the time, I'm happy to bunch up into the start of the month (when I get paid). And because I'm ordering everything then, I don't really care if they all arrive immediately. It's nice if they do, but it's not essential. I've spent a month adding them to the list for next month, and there's nothing urgent there (and, because of that delay, many things get bumped to future months or off the list entirely).
And when I do need something immediately, I can almost always get Prime for next to nothing. This year alone, I've had 6 "trials" at either free or very reduced rates, and 2 reduced-cost renewals (for months at a time), etc. I have one now... 99p for 7 days. I'll likely build up an order, use that trial, then cancel it.
And because of that, video is only a bonus, not a driver in my renewals. And every time I've used the video service, I've not found it interesting enough to renew just for that, or even use it "for free" when I've had membership, trials or deals on the subscription. It's really not compelling enough.
Now they're doing ADS on a pay-for service? Absolutely not interested whatsoever. I don't support such a business model in any way, shape or form.
Currently, after shopping with Amazon since about 2001 (when they were just books), I haven't been a Prime member for the vast majority of the past 2 years, and when I have it's been for fleeting moments for free or at significantly reduced prices, and I've crammed everything into that period that I needed. Ever since they raised prices on me, basically.
If the subscription was half the price, I'd probably just have it like I did before - a rolling annual subscription that I know I'll get value out of so I just leave it running and rarely bother to check. But now? A year's subscription costs too much for what's on offer.
Fact is, even without the subscription, I don't actually spend much on delivery costs with Amazon anyway. Certainly less than the subscription, because I don't care when most of it arrives so I select the slow option that's almost always free or very cheap.
I love Amazon. It's the Acme Products Inc. of the real world. It's great. I love browsing it and just being able to press a button and buy almost anything. But Amazon need to realise that to be a subscription, I have to get value out of it that I can't get elsewhere for cheaper. The video simply can't do that. The delivery costs? Maybe. In certain instances. Sometimes. But they keep giving me deals anyway.
Bait and switch (Score:4, Informative)
The delivery price is "Free!" if you don't notice the cost is often included in the item price.
You get Prime video for "Free!" If you do not include the occasional alunskippable 2.5 minutes of ads.
Remember the consumer is everything for Amazon...sorry I mean the consumer used to be everything.
And it might be a lot worse than it looks (Score:2)
Market saturation? (Score:2)
Perhaps everyone in the US who wants Amazon Prime already has it?
Well let's see... (Score:5, Insightful)
- Ads on Prime Video
- Next day deliveries that usually don't show up the next day
- Increasingly difficult to find anything on Amazon (Prime or not) besides knock-off junk
It's really not that difficult to figure out why.
Re: Well let's see... (Score:2)
And you can sometimes get free shipping without prime, it isn't next day but I can wait a few days.
Prime video ads is really what made my drop it after a decade of membership.
Re: (Score:2)
Worse, when that delivery is late, you have no recourse because you didn't pay explicitly for the delivery. If you're paying for expedited delivery, and it's late, you can ask for a refund of the expedited delivery fee.
Perhaps they should look at other factors. (Score:3)
Perhaps they should look at other factors.. such as, worsening delivery experience, too many shenanigans with transfer between Amazon and USPS going awry, and the one that really grinds my gears -- have the balls to charge $130 / year for Prime, and still have the fresh face to say "We want 3 bucks more a month for ad-free Prime Video."
Maybe it's time I drop them, myself.
Comment Subject: (Score:1)
the whole "i make it up with free shipping" crowd must have finally caught on - spend $35 and you get free shipping anyway
Pointless in a big city. (Score:2)
The only two notable Prime features are quicker/free delivery and Prime video. I live in a big city, where they have a big local depot, and even if I choose free 5-day delivery, the parcel nearly always arrives on the next day. No point paying premium for it. And Prime Video? You can get it as a standalone subscription for less money. It's just that having it as a video-only package requires going deep, through multiple obscure screens and saying "no" yo Amazon trying to con you into getting full Prime abo
At least the content is a bit better than Netflix (Score:2)
Seems like every time I look at what's new on Netflix, it's nothing but Indian or Asian content. I'm sure it's less expensive than American or British content which says a lot about how Netflix is running the business i.e. not well.
Adolescence and Wednesday make Netflix worth it (Score:2)
If Adolescence doesn't get under your skin you have the skin of a monster and the heart of psychopath.
Wednesday is great fun; teenage cynicism with a dark shading.
I get the free trials a couple times a year (Score:2)
Right now, I have six days free left. With a business and personal account, it looks like I can get free shipping about 4 months out of the year. It is an impressive operation. I can get all kinds of items the next day, though I'm rural so nothing same day unless I maybe have it delivered to work.
I cancelled (Score:3)
In a related article... (Score:2)
I suppose that giving less services for the same amount of money make people less interested to a subscription, especially if one had that for the package delivery instead of mainly show watching.