Amazon Prime Membership

Amazon Prime membership exceeds 100 million

By Tonya Garcia

Amazon.com Inc.'s AMZN, +0.75% Prime has reached 101 million members, according to estimates by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Inc.
As of Dec. 31, 2018, the group says 62% of Amazon's U.S. customers are members of the Prime program. Members spend an average of $1,400 annually versus $600 per year for non-members. "Membership growth has slowed, but continued steadily in the holiday quarter," said Josh Lowitz, co-founder of CIRP, in a statement. Membership exceeded 100 million in the holiday period, and grew from 26 million in December 2013. More than one-third of members (36%) pay a monthly fee while 58% pay annually and 7% are on a free trial, share a membership, or don't know how the fee is paid. An annual membership is $119 while the monthly payment structure is $156 annualized. "These more transient members obviously don't have the same commitment to Amazon shopping and the suite of Prime member services," said Mike Levin, a CIRP co-founder. "Presumably they don't typically use the breadth of benefits to the same extent as annual members." Amazon shares have climbed 30% over the past year while the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.94% has fallen 6.7% for the period.