Amazon Prime Memberships in US Gain 8% to New High After Lull

Spencer Soper, Bloomberg News

An employee carries a box at the Amazon.com Inc. fulfilment centre in Tilbury, U.K. on Friday, July 12, 2019. By offering 12 extra hours of deals during this year's Prime Day, Amazon will pull in nearly 50% more in sales, according to an estimate from Coresight Research. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime subscription service hit a new high of 180 million US shoppers in March, an increase of 8% from a year earlier, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which has tracked Amazon memberships since 2014.

The increase shows Amazon’s promise of fast delivery on a wide assortment of goods continues to have strong appeal with shoppers grappling with inflation despite greater online competition from Walmart Inc. and China-linked companies such as TikTok Shop, Shein and Temu.

US consumers pay Amazon $140 a year or $15 per month for Prime subscription, which includes shipping discounts and the ad-supported Prime Video streaming service.

Prime membership growth flattened after the pandemic, and Consumer Intelligence Research Partners last year predicted the online retailer had hit a plateau. The most recent data, showing 75% of US shoppers have Prime memberships, is a clear indication that Amazon is still gaining new subscribers.

The increase suggests US consumers believe “their Amazon shopping habit justifies the investment in Prime membership,” the Chicago research firm said Tuesday in its report.

The firm measures the number of people who have access to Prime, which is greater than the actual number of subscriptions sold by Amazon. A Prime subscription is generally shared by members of a household, all of whom are counted by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Amazon in 2021 announced it had 200 million Prime members globally, the last time it released a figure on the number of subscriptions. The Seattle-based company discloses subscription services revenue each quarter, which is mostly from Prime. Analysts project that Amazon will report a 12% gain to $10.8 billion in subscription service revenue in the period ended March 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Amazon declined to immediately comment on the report.