Amazon has been rolling out the Prime Day deals.
Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com Inc. Report has been working pretty darn hard to get people to sign up for Prime over the last few years — while the paid membership has been around since 2005, it saw nearly 50 million new sign ups in one year, with a total of over 200 million by April 2021.
“More than 1.9 million small and medium-sized businesses sell in our store, and they make up close to 60% of our retail sales,” founder Jeff Bezos wrote in a shareholders letter at the time.
What Are The Perks This Year?
Anyone who’s ever tried to avoid subscribing for yet another paid service (those costs can really add up!) knows that Amazon will regularly up Prime perks to make up for the price increase. For some, that makes the service difficult to resist.
The biggest perk of the service, which costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year in the U.S., is free two-day shipping on many select items. Other perks include free access to streaming and music content, discounts at many stores, and early access to deals.
Prime Day, which will take place between July 12 and 13 in 2022, has also long been an opportunity for Amazon to market the paid service.
This year, Amazon is offering a free one-year subscription to GrubHub+ (GRUB) – Get Grubhub, Inc. Report. While using the food-delivery platform does not require a subscription, the paid tier allows customers to order without delivery fees.
It is usually available for $9.99 a month but, for those who already have Prime or will sign up now, it will be free for the next year.
Another perk includes getting to view a sneak peek of “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” two days before the film drops on Prime Video on September 2. It will be available to view for 48 hours.
Will Sneak Peeks And Football Get People To Join Prime?
As it also has exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football on September 15, Amazon is using excitement around the game to market discounts on TVs and streaming products.
Amazon is also offering some Prime members access to watch the Ultimate Crown match between streamers MrBeast and Ninja, both on Twitch and in-person in Las Vegas on July 9.
“Being the first to watch a sneak peek of one of the most highly anticipated shows of 2022 or ordering your favorite takeout while watching a football game on a TV you snagged for a great price — that’s the promise of Prime, and there’s never been a better time to take advantage of all the membership has to offer,” Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime, said in a statement.
Each year’s Prime Day perks reflect something about today’s culture and the zeitgeist of the current moment. This year’s deals reflect the retail giant’s attempts to both grow its video content and incorporate it into a core source of revenue.
As Amazon Prime Video faces competition from both Netflix (NFLX) – Get Netflix Inc. Report and Disney Plus (DIS) – Get The Walt Disney Company Report, any investment in exclusive content can help win over customers who will only pay for so many streaming platforms.
Highly-popular content like Lord of the Rings spinoffs or Thursday Night Football, in particular, can be what gets people who had otherwise not planned to sign up for Prime to cross over.
