Amazon Falls on Prime Subscriber Numbers

Apparently, Amazon’s Prime service, a linchpin of its effort to keep customers loyal and fuel long- term profit, has attracted fewer than half as many members as analysts estimate.

As of October, 3 million to 5 million people subscribed to Prime, a program begun in 2005 that provides two-day shipping for $79 a year, said the people, who asked not to be named because the figures are private. Amazon is working to reach 7 million to 10 million in the next 12 to 18 months, the people said. Analysts have pegged the current number at 10 million or more, with expectations for it to climb higher this year. The slower adoption of Prime adds to concerns about Amazon’s revenue growth.

paidContent writes: “The main thrust of the [Bloomberg] piece is that that is about half as many as analysts believed, but since Amazon has never released numbers about the program, it’s not clear what the takeaway is. It’s not as if Amazon publicly stated that it has attracted half as many Prime subscribers as it wanted to; in fact it’s made clear that it’s moving ahead forcefully with the program.