Amazon.com Inc. wants more than Emmy statues for its original series “Transparent.” It wants new Amazon Prime customers, so it’s discounting the annual subscription service to $67 for the first year, almost a third off the usual $99 fee.
Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2015Top 500 Guide, on Friday will sell subscriptions to its annual loyalty program for $67 in honor of this year being the 67th year for the Emmys. A Prime membership includes free two-day shipping and free same-day delivery in select markets, plus the ability to stream movies and TV shows.
Colin Sebastian, e-commerce analyst at Robert W. Baird and Co., says “tying the Prime promotion to Amazon’s Emmy awards may be designed to attract more TV fans to Prime Instant Video.”
Data shows that Amazon Prime members have a conversion rate of 74%, 22 times better than the average conversion of other North America-based retailers in the Top 500, according to a study done by website traffic measurement firm Millward Brown Digital.
An estimate from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners pegged the number of Amazon Prime subscribers as of June 30 at around 44 million in the U.S. alone. An estimate released last week by investment bank RBC Capital Markets says Amazon has 50 million Prime members in the United States and 60 million to 80 million globally. Amazon does not say how many Prime members it has.