Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime (stylized as simply Prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- or two-day delivery of goods, and streaming music, video, e-books, gaming, and grocery shopping services. In April 2021, Amazon reported that Prime had more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.[2][3]
Type of site
Sub-brands[edit]
Prime Music[edit]
Prime Music is an ad-free music streaming service that is included in the cost of the standard Amazon Prime membership.[57] It began in 2007.[58] In November 2022, the music catalog was significantly expanded, and the style was changed to be similar to Pandora or listening to a Radio broadcasting.[59][58] This means that when users choose a song, Prime Music plays something similar, rather than the specific song that was selected.[57][59] When users dislike the song substituted by Prime Music, they can skip a limited number of songs per hour.[57] This change was introduced as part of an effort to bolster Amazon against rival offerings from Walmart.[60]
Amazon offers a separate subscription service called Amazon Music, which costs $8.99 per month for Prime members and $9.99 per month for others.[61] Subscribers to Music Unlimited can choose which songs they want to listen to without being redirected to similar songs or similar artists.[57]
Amazon's music streaming services represent 10% of the market, making it far less popular than Spotify and Apple Music.[58]
Prime Day[edit]
On July 15, 2015, to commemorate the website's 20th anniversary, Amazon held its first Prime Day. The event is characterized by a number of sales and promotions exclusive to Amazon Prime subscribers, with Amazon initially promoting that it would feature "more deals than Black Friday".[108] The inaugural Prime Day faced criticism over the quality of the discounts offered, with many of them being tied to items not in high demand. Some users jokingly described the event as a "yard sale", and Walmart also countered the event with a promotional blog post arguing that customers "shouldn't have to pay $100 to find great deals". Amazon defended criticism of the event, noting that order volume on the website had "surpassed" Black Friday sales in 2014.[109][110][111][112][113] That same month, Amazon Prime announced[114] that it had signed Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, formerly of BBC's Top Gear, to begin working on The Grand Tour for Amazon Prime Video, which was released in 2016.
On July 13, 2016, Amazon Prime said customers placed 60 percent more orders worldwide on "Prime Day".[115] The 2018 edition was preceded by a concert event headlined by Ariana Grande, and streamed on Amazon Video and Twitch.[116] The 2019 concert was held on July 10 ahead of Prime Day starting on July 15, and streamed exclusively for Prime subscribers, featuring Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Becky G, and SZA.[117][118][119]
In 2018, Prime Day first became tied to protests of Amazon and employee strikes due to the Criticism of Amazon. Supporters of these actions have urged boycotts of Amazon during Prime Day as solidarity, covering all services provided by the company and its subsidiaries.[120][121][122][123]
In 2020, Prime Day was postponed in the US and Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was held from October 13–14. Prime Day was held in India on August 6–7.[124]
In May 2021, Prime Day was postponed indefinitely in Canada due to COVID-19.[125]
Availability[edit]
As of October 2021, Prime memberships are available in 27 countries: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, The Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, and the US.[126]
As of 2023, while a valid debit or credit card is required to be provided as a backup payment method, it is possible to pay for Amazon Prime subscription fees with Amazon gift card balance in the following countries:[127] Japan,[128] Italy,[129] Spain,[130] Mexico,[131] Canada, France,[132] the United Kingdom,[133] the United States, Netherlands (since November 2023),[134] Saudi Arabia (since November 2023),[135] Germany (in future).
In Saudi Arabia[135] and Mexico,[131] users can pay for a Prime membership using only Amazon Gift Cards. A free trial is not provided if there is no credit or debit card added to a user's account.
