If you are an Amazon customer in the United States, the odds are you are a member of Amazon Prime, Amazon.com Inc.’s free shipping-and-more program that costs $99 annually.
52% of Amazon customers were Prime members as of June 30, according to new estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners LLC (CIRP). It is the first time Prime membership has passed the 50% mark, the securities research firm says. It estimates Amazon has 63 million Prime members in the United States, up 43% from 44 million a year ago and a 16% gain from the 54 million CIRP estimated at the end of 2015.
CIRP’s new estimates are based on a survey of 500 U.S. Amazon shoppers who made a purchase between April and June.
The estimates provide a benchmark as to how many consumers are eligible to shop Amazon.com Tuesday to get Prime Day discounts. Prime Day is a one-day sale in which Amazon and marketplace sellers offer prices that are at least 20% less than the average selling price on Amazon over the last 90 days.
Only Prime members are eligible to get the discounted prices. Last year, that enticement triggered many non-Prime Amazon customers to sign up.
Market research firms Market Track LLC and Qualtrics estimate 34% of U.S. adult internet users shopped Amazon on Prime Day last year. Of that 34%, 21% already were Prime members and 13% signed up on the spot.
Amazon offers a 30-day free trial of Prime, so some of those consumers may not have converted to paying members after the trial. However, 73% of consumers who take Amazon up on the trial offer end up paying the fee, according to CIRP. CIRP estimates Amazon gained 3 million Prime members during the third quarter last year, which included Prime Day.
Amazon does not say how many Prime customers it has, but in January it said the number of Prime members in the United States grew 47% last year. Program benefits include free two-day shipping, streaming video and music, online photo storage and early access to select shopping deals.
Amazon is aggressively marketing Prime Day to make sure consumers are aware of the sale. Two 15-second Prime Day TV commercials have aired more than 1,400 times in recent days, according to TV commercial tracker iSpot.TV Inc., using the themes “the deals are everywhere” and “deals high and low.”
Projections from UBS bank estimate Amazon will have 67.7 million Prime members in the United States by the end of the year.
90% of U.S. adult online shoppers say they are Amazon customers, according to Internet Retailer’s 2016 Online Shopping Survey, which 535 U.S. adult online shoppers took online in late April. Of those, 59.4% said they or someone in their household belong to Prime.
Amazon accounts for about 30% of U.S. online retail sales when factoring in its own direct sales and the gross merchandise value of goods sold by marketplace sellers on Amazon. Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide.
For more Prime Day coverage, click here.
For historical Prime Day statistics, download Internet Retailer’s infographic here.
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