Report: Prime members now represent 63 percent of Amazon’s US customers

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) has released a new estimate of the number of Amazon Prime subscribers in the US market. The firm says there are now 90 million members, or 63 percent of US Amazon customers.

That’s up from an estimated 85 million in July and 80 million in April of this year. CIRP has previously estimated Prime members spend almost twice what non-members spend on Amazon purchases.

Amazon Prime Customer Growth

Prime subscribers spend an average of roughly $1,700 per year versus about $700 for non-Prime members, according to the report. That translates into about $117 billion in top-line revenue generated by Prime customers.

Amazon Prime Customers Spend Almost 2x More Annually

Source: CIRP estimates (10/17)

CIRP added that 95 of current Prime members surveyed said that they would “definitely” or “probably” renew their memberships. This matters because there’s a broader halo effect that Prime creates:

• Amazon dominates ecommerce, which is directly reinforced by Prime (free shipping).
• Amazon is able to use Prime and its channel to sell more Alexa devices and maintain its lead in the virtual assistant market, which in turn will allow the company to lead in voice commerce.
• The company that controls the virtual assistant market will also dominate the smart home ecosystem. Prime is helping in that emerging arena.
• Prime may indirectly help Amazon grow Whole Foods at the expense of other grocery chains.

Prime is now 12 years old and plays an outsized role the company’s strategy and success. It may well the most successful loyalty program in existence.