Amazon Prime has been around a while now. There have also been a few free ways to get Amazon Prime, college students at times, and parents. Back in September of 2010, when they started Amazon Mom, I signed up right away. So what has happened to our Amazon purchases since?
Now we buy a lot online. Mostly it is more convenient and less hassle, but the price is also generally an incentive. We did start purchasing our diapers through Amazon after joining Amazon Mom. So we will take that into account below. (By the way, the data was all easy to export thanks to Mint.com)
Before we get to the numbers a few other notes for those who care. First this is actual money paid out to Amazon.com, so it originally does not include any gift certificates that we received, but it does if we purchased them (I added back in $50 worth of gift certificates for the Prime time that we got with our Amazon credit card). Second this is purchasing for myself and my wife. Now on to the numbers…
Pre-Prime = September 2009 - February 2010 (Includes one a Christmas time, 7 months) Prime = September 2010 - February 2011 (Includes one Christmas time, 7 months)
| Pre-Prime | Prime | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Purchases | 18 | 24 |
| Total Purchase Amount | $736 | $618 |
| Average Purchase Amount | $41 | $26< |
| Total Purchase Amount Excluding December | $373 | $393 |
So there is not much that interesting. We spent less this year overall, but we have had less available money this past year as well (a smaller Christmas). A deeper study might look at our overall online purchasing to see if Amazon increased its share. (I know we are more likely to check Amazon for sure.) Once you take out December purchases we did spend more, so it looks like we are purchasing more “normal” stuff, like diapers, on Amazon.
So is free prime worth it for Amazon? I think so. If small, low middle class families like us are just using Amazon more, just think of what mid-middle class are doing. People going to Amazon for more “normal” everyday purchases is in the end good for Amazon. I tell you what, it is hard to beat $0.207 a size 6 diaper with Amazon Mom.