Believe it or not – Amazon Prime had a slow start and it wasn’t an instant success.
Amazon launched Prime back in 2005 but it didn’t really take off until 2011.
Fast forward to today, users have adopted the new subscription, becoming one of Amazon’s biggest success stories.
What is Amazon Prime exactly?
Amazon Prime is a subscription service offered by Amazon that provides a ton of benefits to members:
And so much more.
Amazon Prime now has more than 200 million subscribers across 23 different countries. And it doesn’t look like it will slow down anytime soon!
In this blog, I will cover the latest Amazon Prime statistics, which show just how big Amazon Prime has become and will continue to be.
Let’s get into it!
What Will I Learn?
Amazon Prime’s growth is what has been most impressive. They have managed to convert millions of customers into loyal subscribers at a very fast rate.
These are the Amazon Prime statistics you need to know:
The most interesting thing about Amazon Prime is that it has increased sales for Amazon.
Members pay for the subscription and often spend more on Amazon than if they didn’t have the subscription.
That’s a big win for Amazon.
Amazon Prime’s subscriber rate has been growing consistently since 2011.
While most Amazon Prime members are in the US, Amazon has been pushing the service in other countries. This has helped increase Prime subscribers by up to 25%.
Here are all the user Amazon Prime statistics worth knowing.
Amazon Prime’s global subscriber growth rate has accelerated over the last 5 years.
Today Amazon currently has 200 million Amazon Prime members around the world.
If Prime subscribers were a country, it would be the 8th biggest country in the world by population!
What’s more impressive?
Amazon has managed to double its Prime users from 100 million in 2018 to 200 million in 2022. That’s not a small feat.
Here’s the breakdown of paying Amazon Prime members:
| Date | Paying Amazon Prime members |
|---|---|
| Q1 2018 | 100 million |
| Q4 2019 | 150 million |
| Q1 2021 | 200 million |
Today Amazon Prime is available in 23 countries globally including-
More recently, Amazon’s primary focus for new Amazon Prime users has been Europe.
They have actively been expanding the number of warehouses and working with different countries to establish a wider distribution.
This has meant that Prime subscriptions are starting to grow within the European region.
The United States has the most Prime Subscribers by far.
Overall the US accounts for about 74% of all paying Amazon Prime accounts globally.
This means that Amazon has 148.6 million Amazon Prime members in the US alone. But that number is just the beginning of it.
Since 2017 Amazon has grown its Amazon Prime user base by 49.05% from 99.7 million.
Here is the full breakdown of Amazon Prime subscriptions by year in the US.
| Year | Number of users |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 25 million |
| 2014 | 40 million |
| 2015 | 54 million |
| 2016 | 65 million |
| 2017 | 99.7 million |
| 2018 | 112.1 million |
| 2019 | 124 million |
| 2020 | 142.5 million |
| 2021 | 151.9 million |
| 2022 | 157.4 million (estimated) |
| 2023 | 161.7 million (estimated) |
| 2024 | 165 million (estimated) |
| 2025 | 168.3 million (estimated) |
eMarketer has predicted that the number of Amazon Prime users in the United States will reach 168.3 million by 2025.
The reason that the growth rate is expected to slow over the next 2-5 years is because Amazon is likely to reach market saturation in the US.
That means everyone in the US that wants a Prime subscription has purchased one.
That’s why Amazon is pushing Prime in other parts of the world.
Who are Amazon Prime users in the US?
While a diverse range of demographics uses Prime, a prominent demographic stands out more than the others.
Young Adults make up the vast majority of Amazon Prime users.
According to the latest Amazon Prime statistics, about 81% of US internet users aged 18 to 34 have a paid Amazon Prime membership.
| Age Group | US Internet Users With Prime |
|---|---|
| 18 to 34 | 81% |
| 35 to 54 | 68% |
| 55+ | 60% |
For internet users aged 35 to 54 years, only 68% have a Prime subscription.
This drops down further to 60% for internet users aged 55 years and above. These numbers are still very high when compared with the international market for Prime.
But clearly, the market penetration drops significantly for people above the age of 34. Experts predict this isn’t likely to change that much in the future.
Amazon Prime comes with a ton of great benefits.
But what’s the main benefit that Amazon Prime subscribers value the most?
Short answer – Free Shipping.
90% of Prime subscribers keep their Amazon Prime subscriptions because of the free shipping that Amazon offers.
All of the other benefits to Prime are just add-ons in most customers’ minds.
Speed of shipping is also a significant factor for subscribers.
72% of United States’ Amazon Prime members get same or next-day delivery from Amazon Prime. Free and fast shipping times are a big benefit for Amazon Prime users.
…And it’s also a big competitive advantage for Amazon!
It’s very hard for other ecommerce retailers to compete with the shipping benefits and remain profitable.
How much money does Amazon make from Prime?
These are the latest Amazon Prime statistics on sales and revenue.
Prime Day has almost become a national holiday in the US.
It’s big for retailers, customers and of course – Amazon.
Prime Day was launched in 2015.
It is an annual event exclusively for Amazon Prime members where national and third-party sellers offer huge discounts on millions of products.
Amazon encourages all their sellers to provide outrageous discounts for these two days.
Why?
Because it brings in a massive amount of revenue and sales.
Indeed, in 2023, Amazon Prime Day sales reached a massive $12.9 billion in comparison to $12 billion in 2022.
This was a huge 8.69% increase from 11.19 billion in 2021. The bottom line is that Prime Day works and retailers gain a considerable amount of sales during the annual event.
| Year | Gross Prime Day sales on Amazon |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $0.9 billion |
| 2016 | $1.52 billion |
| 2017 | $2.41 billion |
| 2018 | $4.19 billion |
| 2019 | $7.16 billion |
| 2020 | $10.39 billion |
| 2021 | $11.19 billion |
| 2022 | $12 billion |
| 2023 | $12.9 billion |
You can see that Prime Day sales from 2021 were 4.64x times higher than just 5 years earlier in 2017.
While it started slow, Prime Day has become a massive revenue generator for both Amazon and their retail partners.
What’s more?
In 2022, Amazon members purchased over 300 million items worldwide during Prime Day.
The top-selling products globally included:
Prime Day is also the best time to buy Amazon products.
Popular Amazon products are discounted between 40%-60% during the two-day event.
The Fire TV Stick 4K was the most common Amazon device purchased on Prime Day 2021.
Before we jump into the Amazon Prime revenue, it’s important to note that Prime revenue can’t be entirely isolated.
This is because Amazon doesn’t disclose its revenue specifically from Prime subscriptions. But Amazon does disclose income from all of their subscription services.
Prime is one of the biggest subscription services offered by Amazon.
The subscription services include:
The following statistics DON’T include Amazon Web Services.
So how much does Amazon make?
Amazon made $35.22 billion from memberships and subscriptions in 2022. This was more than a $3 billion increase from the previous year.
Here are the latest Amazon stats on subscriptions since 2014.
| Year | Annual net sales of subscription services |
|---|---|
| 2014 | $2.76 billion |
| 2015 | $4.47 billion |
| 2016 | $6.39 billion |
| 2017 | $9.72 billion |
| 2018 | $14.17 billion |
| 2019 | $19.21 billion |
| 2020 | $25.21 billion |
| 2021 | $31.77 billion |
| 2022 | $35.22 billion |
Amazon subscription revenue has more than doubled since 2017. They have managed to add more than $3 billion in revenue every year since 2018.
It’s likely that COVID-19 also helped increase and maintain subscribers.
Amazon Prime revenue is expected to increase this year due to Amazon increasing their Prime fees. It’s the first increase in Prime fees since 2018.
The price in the US increased from $12.99 to $14.99 per month.
It’s also important to realise that the stats above don’t even include how much extra revenue Prime generates in terms of sales for Amazon.
The truth is that Prime customers spend more.
Prime customers spend an average of $1400 per year on products, whereas non-Prime customers spend just $600 on average.
Prime plays an essential role for Amazon increasing spending by customers by up to $800 extra per year.
That’s a big difference.
That’s the complete wrap-up on the latest Amazon Prime statistics.
Even though Amazon is publicly traded, they release very little information about Prime specifically.
This is likely because of the value and competitive advantage that Prime offers Amazon as a company.
Prime helps Amazon maintain a very loyal customer base. Users also get a huge amount of benefits, primarily in shipping and discounts on products.
It has been widely successful across the United States and Amazon is looking to replicate their success in other countries going forward.
Want more statistics posts? Take a look at these blogs:
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