Some interesting data about prime: - Estimated at 40 - 50 million members(1) - Estimated at $4 - 5 billion in revenue (1) - That revenue = ~15.5% of Amazon's

Some interesting data about prime: - Estimated at 40 - 50 million members(1) - Estimated at $4 - 5 billion in revenue (1) - That revenue = ~15.5% of Amazon's total revenue, incidentally this is just subscription revenue, not the money spent by the customers on purchases(1) - Prime is growing 50% year over year (2) - Prime members spend almost 3x a year vs. average customer (2) So in that light you have to imagine that: a) Prime members are dramatically more profitable than the average customer. b) Acquiring more prime members > some pissed off shoppers that don't want to take a free trial So in that light it doesn't seem like a huge stretch that Amazon starts packaging Prime with discounts on certain products, especially on razor-thin margin products to push the model. And of course you also have Jet.com getting huge press for essentially being a "subscription only" ecommerce site. (1) http://www.pymnts.com/in-depth/2015/prime-turns-amazon-profitable-again/#.VVotWPlVhBc http://www.pymnts.com/in-depth/2015/prime-turns-amazon-profi... (2) http://www.geekwire.com/2015/amazon-prime-memberships-grow-53-percent-2014-despite-20-price-hike/ http://www.geekwire.com/2015/amazon-prime-memberships-grow-5... (3) http://www.wsj.com/articles/startup-jet-coms-goal-20-billion-volume-by-2020-1429752930 http://www.wsj.com/articles/startup-jet-coms-goal-20-billion...