All about what Amazon's Prime day means – for Amazon & a few firsts for you
Bottom Line: Amazon has every reason in the world to want to reel you in on Prime Day and it's all about money. Here's the first and most important stat for Amazon today...
Average annual spend on Amazon from non-Prime members: $600
Average annual spend on Amazon from Prime members: $1400
There aren't too many ways you can get customers to spend 233% more with your business but this has proven to be one of them. It's not complicated. Once Amazon gets you to pony up (what's now $119) for members' dues annually – you want to use the service you're paying for or you feel like you lose out. Researcher Epsilon has found out just how powerful that "free shipping" (once you pay for membership) can be. 70% of Prime customers say the main reason they shop on Amazon is the "free shipping". That easily beats out price (65%) and products/selection (42%). In fact, previous research has shown that often Wal-Mart beats Amazon on price on commonly purchased items but it doesn't really matter if people aren't comparison shopping.
88% of Prime members say being a Prime member affects buying decisions
Break through that code and here's what you get. Prime members are 88% less likely to comparison shop and 88% more likely to patronize Amazon.com. That's how 233% increases in spending with the same customer happens.
With Amazon's 4th annual invented "Prime Day" upon us there are a few firsts this year...
It's actually a day and a half this year running from 3pm to 3am Wednesday morning est.
The now Amazon owned Whole Foods will be part of it for the first time
Amazon's expected to set a record for online sales in a 24-hour period with over $3 billion
Kudos to Amazon for making this happen. If you're inclined however I'd advocate using this next day+ as a second "Small Business Saturday", so to speak. As Amazon moves closer to becoming a $1 trillion company (current value is $880 billion) - it not only dwarfs the one-time perceived small business bogey man – Wal-Mart ($259 billion) - it's also putting the squeeze on small and local retailers to be able to survive. So, enjoy Prime Day as you wish but how about also putting a small business on your list too.