Amazon has every reason in the world to want to reel you in on Prime Day. Here are the most important stats from Amazon today. The average annual non-Prime members spend $600 and the average annual Prime members spend $1,400.
There aren't a lot of 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 $119 for the annual membership, 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" can be. 70% of Prime customers say the main reason they shop on Amazon is the "free shipping". That easily beats out the price about 65% and products/selection by 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. In fact, 88% of Prime members say being a Prime member affects buying decisions.
Breakthrough 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 new things happening. First, this year Prime Day will actually be a day and a half, running from 3 pm to 3 am Wednesday morning EST. Whole Foods, now owned by Amazon, will also be part of Prime Day. Finally, Amazon is 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 or so as a second "Small Business Saturday", so to speak. As Amazon moves closer to becoming a $1 trillion company, it not only dwarfs the one-time perceived small business bogeyman. Wal-Mart, now a $259 billion company, is 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.
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