Amazon Prime
Amazon Raises the Price of Prime By 17%
Amazon has increased the price of its Prime subscription program in the U.S. for the first time in four years, going up 17% from $119 to $139 per year, as the company faces the reality of massive logistics costs and a flattening of its ecommerce sales vs. the hypergrowth of the early pandemic period.
Prime Day Hits Record of $11B Over Two Days
Prime Day 2021 is in the books with a record $11 billion in sales, according to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index, up 6.1% from $10.4 billion in 2020, when the event was held in October, but was not a winner for retailers not named Amazon, based on data from SalesForce. Wall Street wasn’t impressed with flat growth over the 2020 event.
Prime Day No. 1 Hits $5.6 Billion
Prime Day one on Monday saw total online sales in the U.S. surpass $5.6 billion, up 8.7% from 2020, surpassing Thanksgiving Day last year which rung in at $5.1 billion, according to data from the Adobe Digital Economy Index. Toys saw the deepest discounts, while appliances and electronics proved most popular, Adobe reported.
Amazon Prime Hits 147 Million U.S. Subscribers
Amazon Prime is approaching 150 million members in the U.S. alone, as the global figure has topped 200 million and subscribers after the first year renewing at a near-automatic 98%, according to the final shareholder letter from departing CEO Jeff Bezos and figures from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
Best Buy Pilots Subscription Program
Best Buy Beta is being piloted at select stores in Iowa, Oklahoma and eastern Pennsylvania, expanding to Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee. Members will get discounts, unlimited Geek Squad tech support, up to two years of protection, free standard shipping and delivery and free installation on most products.
Amazon Files Objection to Alabama Union Vote
Amazon has filed a motion with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to postpone a planned union vote next month at its fulfillment center in Bessemer, AL, which if successful would create its first union shop, an outcome the ecommerce giant has vigorously opposed at every turn. The vote is scheduled from Feb. 8-March 29.
Prime Day 2020 Set to Break Records, But 3P Sellers Facing Challenges
With Prime Day hitting Oct. 13-14, the unofficial kickoff of a very different holiday season, sellers are geared up to take advantage of the massive shopping event, but the proximity to other mega events from Thanksgiving on may lead shoppers and sellers to choose one or the other vs. both. Still Prime Day 2020 is expected to break records.
