Prime is a pretty awesome tool in their arsenal though. Initially "Pay up-front for discounted shipping" is a bit of a hard sell. Works fine for customers who'

Prime is a pretty awesome tool in their arsenal though. Initially "Pay up-front for discounted shipping" is a bit of a hard sell. Works fine for customers who've shopped with them for years and can tot up the shipping fees they've already spent (or annoying waits). So for new customers - how about free music and video? Now nobody's going to say it's better than spotify + Netflix (or your providers of choice)... but it's not a bad bundle to get for a year for that one prime payment. Then once you've made that Prime payment - well might as well shop from Amazon.. I'm a prime member and mentally file it alongside by cable provider.. I might be able to get better individual services, but collectively they'd all cost more - and more importantly you get stung massively if you don't transition in one go. Amazon ups this even further by just having a single priced 'Prime' service. i.e. No reduction in cost if you just want the free shipping and spend the saving on spotify/netflix/hulu/apple/whatever. Nor can you pay to watch "Grand Tour" (or your show of choice, legally) without having that tempting free postage from amazon available to you. Only possible way I can see of breaking this stranglehold is for external companies to play nice with each other. e.g. If a few online providers (one in each area) get together and brand themselves - and then this brand can be bundled with other services. e.g. "NewEgg provides free next day to spotify subscribers" If this doesn't happen Amazon can't be defeated.