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Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) is generally tight-lipped when it comes to specific numbers on key segments. Have you ever heard Amazon talk about how many Kindle Fire units it sold, or just that it is currently Amazon’s “Best Selling” item?
Well, Morningstar is taking a stab at one metric Amazon also doesn’t talk about: Amazon Prime memberships. According to reports obtained by AllThingsD from Morningstar and Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Amazon is currently sporting over 10 million subs for its Prime service. The number is said to be twice as many as during the same period last year.
More Prime member is a boon for Amazon. ATD notes that Prime members spend about $1,200 annually with Amazon, twice as much as non-Prime users.
Data also points to Amazon netting about $78 per Prime user after all costs are worked out, meaning the initial $79 fee for the service is basically profit.
There’s also the intangibles that go beyond numbers and figures. Research points to Prime members using Amazon for just about anything they don’t need immediately, meaning Amazon is building a dedicated community around the service. CIRP said about 95 percent of Prime members plan to renew the service.
The dedication also spills over into digital content. Along with free two-day shipping, Prime members gain access to streaming TV and movie programs, not to mention the Kindle Lending Library for Kindle users. The continued consumption of digital content might spill out into other areas for Amazon, like music purchases and users increasing their cloud storage allotment.
Over a longer-term outlook, analysts expect Prime membership to be somewhere around 25 million by 2017.
Amazon is up 0.8 percent on the session, paring some of its earlier gains.
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