Since Jeff Bezos first launched Amazon Prime, it has consistently been winning loyal customers.
If you haven't heard of Amazon Prime, you must wonder what it is. If you know about Amazon Prime but haven't tried it yet, you might wonder is it worth it?
Well, we're here to help you out and even if you don't believe us, you can probably trust the 200 million Amazon Prime members worldwide who vouch for it.
When talking about Amazon Prime, the free same-day delivery and free two-day shipping, are not the only reason Amazon has made sure they earn their customers' trust and loyalty, but also the Prime Video services that the platform offers.
Basically, you can place an order that will be delivered on the same day or the next two days, depending on where you live. While you wait for your delivery, take advantage of some relaxation time and stream some video, rather than checking for the delivery status every other minute.
Let's discover all the unlimited benefits that you can enjoy with an Amazon Prime membership and try to find out if it really is worth it.
What is Amazon Prime?
Amazon Prime is Amazon's membership service. You can sign up to become a member, which provides a range of different perks regarding shopping and entertainment.
Even if you know little about the Amazon Prime service, it's likely you've heard of Amazon. But if you'd have asked anyone back in the year 2004 which company they thought would be an enormous success in the future, it's doubtful anyone would have said Amazon!
AIn 2004, Amazon was only valued at around $18 billion. Fast forward 17 years and Amazon has a market cap valued at $1.557 trillion. Yes, you read it right. So, what exactly made a difference? Amazon launched a game-changer for itself with Prime.
Amazon Prime Video is a membership-paid subscription service that provides video-on-demand and rental services offered by Amazon. Amazon, with Prime, has merged its primary two aspects of shopping and movies along with a better and wider range of user benefits.
The Prime subscription comes at a monthly or yearly subscription plan that offers customers some additional services. If you want to sign up for Amazon Prime subscription services, all you have to do is pay at the start of the membership.
You can choose to either pay monthly (for $12.99) or annually (for $119). Amazon Prime also offers a 30-day free trial for the first month and you can choose to cancel anytime you want.
The Pros And Cons Of Amazon Prime
No matter what service you're signing up for, it's a good idea to look at both the pros and cons of the membership program to understand what you're signing up for.
When it comes to advantages, a big one for Amazon Prime is that members can access a no minimum order policy. This exclusive perk for members means you don't have to buy multiple items before accessing free shipping.
Amazon Prime members also get access to Amazon Prime Music, Prime Videos with unlimited streaming, Prime Photos, and more. A Prime member can gain access to literally everything you can find on Amazon with a lot of perks.
Members can also play free games in Prime Gaming. All you have to do is decide what you really want to do and Amazon will take care of the rest for its valued Prime members.
Also, great news for Kindle e-readers. As a Prime member, you can also access two free books per month. Amazon Prime members also get access Kindle Firsts, which means they can access one e-book for free on the Kindle app before it becomes available to non-Prime members. Definitely a great way to make your customers feel special, right?
Looking at some disadvantages of Amazon Prime membership, the obvious thing to point out is that the worthiness of the Prime plan depends on how much online shopping you do.
If you are someone who keeps coming back for retail therapy, the Prime perks can be a great friend, but if you scroll through your online shopping app just once in a while, you might not fully utilize Prime benefits.
Another thing to note is that because you get access to free shopping, the first place you'll probably look when doing any future online shopping is Amazon. This can mean that you compromise on quality or range just because you're wanting to take advantage of the free shipping.
Some Of The Benefits Of Amazon Prime
So, you've signed up and logged in to your Amazon Prime account, now what?
Prime membership provides access to a range of unique features. Once signed in, Prime members can access a plethora of service options. For example, members can access a special sale day known as Prime Day. Prime Day is actually a two-day exclusive shopping event for Prime members offering additional savings and deals.
Prime membership also allows you to have your Amazon packages shipped right at your doorstep with their same-day delivery services.
Amazon also has great arrangements for students as well with a discount of about 50% off on Prime memberships. Now if you're a student who's studying in the US or Puerto Rico, you also get an option to choose a Prime Student membership with an annual fee of $59 or $6.49 per month.
Once Prime members pay their monthly or annual fee, they also get the perk of availing themselves discounts on groceries online, making grocery shopping easy, convenient, and budget-friendly through Amazon Fresh.
Through the perk of Prime early access, Prime members can also enjoy lightning deals before its non-members. Amazon Lightning deals are a short period promotion where selected items are heavily discounted.
Amazon also offers its members instant access with its streaming services with tens of millions of TV shows and movies through its video streaming platform, Prime Video. You can watch anywhere and anytime through your logged-in device that can range from your mobile phone to a Fire TV.
If you don't wish to get a membership, you can also choose to pay-per-view through Amazon Prime instant video. You can also add up to four children to enjoy the different Prime benefits that are exclusive to members, without having to purchase additional memberships.
Amazon Prime users can also enjoy free access to thousands of music and playlists through Amazon Music Unlimited. This offers free unlimited and ad-free music that can be enjoyed with no hassle at all. However, if you don't mind some ads, Prime Music is actually free.
Amazon also provides free, secure unlimited photo storage through Prime Photos, cloud storage that can be shared with up to five to six members of the family or friends to share and receive unlimited photo storage.
Want to play free games? Amazon also offers Prime Gaming, which allows you free access to a Twitch account.
Members sharing the same house can have certain Amazon Prime benefits by creating an Amazon Household account whilst also saving money on the membership.
Interesting Facts About Amazon
The fastest delivery by Amazon may have been as fast as about 23 minutes, which was somewhere in Manhattan. Fascinating, right?
Typically, Amazon Prime members spend more money shopping compared to non-Prime users, which makes sense given members can access no extra shipping costs, which results in members returning to Amazon for all their purchases.
Did you know that Amazon employees once stocked up on every single Pikachu from the Toys R Us website and resold it to their own customers, which boosted Amazon sales significantly?
