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Tag: prime members

  • Amazon hikes Prime membership fees in US

    Amazon hikes Prime membership fees in US

    Mumbai: Amazon has hiked the subscription fees for Prime membership in the US. The announcement was made during the fourth quarter financial results for 2021 held on Thursday.  The company has raised annual prices from $119 to $139 and monthly prices from $12.99 to $14.99. 

    This is Amazon’s first price increase in four years and will go into effect on 18 February. However, the hike does not apply to the Amazon standalone Prime Video option that continues to be offered at $8.99 per month. Recently, the company hiked Prime membership fees in India from Rs 999 to Rs 1499.

    When asked whether the company intends to hike prices in other markets, Amazon chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky replied, “We look at the relative price to the customer versus our cost to supply that and the usage and the value that we’re creating for customers. We felt, especially after not raising the price in the United States since 2018 that the time was right to raise it. And we think it’s a much more valuable program today than it was in 2020, let alone 2018. So, other countries, we’ll continue to evaluate every year and nothing else to announce right now.”

    In April 2021, Amazon shared that it had about 200 million Prime members worldwide. While in the fourth quarter, the management team at the company did not share an updated guidance on the number of prime users, Olsavsky said, “On the consumer side, we welcomed millions of new Prime members in both the United States and international during the quarter, while continuing to see consistently high member renewal rates across geographies.”

    Amazon has tripled its original releases since 2018 and will release its anticipated series ‘The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power’ series in September this year. Prime Video debuted 28 local originals internationally including India in the fourth quarter. The OTT platform also saw its strongest viewership for live sports globally during the quarter. Notably, Prime Video made its foray into live sports in India by streaming cricket matches between New Zealand and Bangladesh in the fourth quarter.

  • Prime Day 2019 was the biggest two-day celebration ever for Prime members in India

    Prime Day 2019 was the biggest two-day celebration ever for Prime members in India

    MUMBAI: Prime members in India joined members in 17 countries celebrating Prime Day, enjoying the best of shopping, savings and entertainment. Following the epic two-day event with thousands of deals just for Prime members, sales surpassed the previous Prime Day and any other two-day period making this the largest shopping event for Prime members. Prime Day was the longest ever and saw members in India shop and stream like never before enjoying over 1,000 new product launches & deals and video & music titles, especially curated for Prime Day.

    “Prime Day has become the biggest celebration of shopping, savings and entertainment that members, brands and sellers in India look forward to each year.” said Amit Agarwal, SVP and Country Manager, Amazon India. “Prime members in India enjoyed shopping the deals and new launches, buying thousands of products from small & medium sellers, artisans, entrepreneurs and innovators and our sellers, Kala Haat artisans and emerging Launchpad startups all saw a sharp increase in sales. Our brand partners increasingly see Prime Day as the ideal event to offer highly anticipated and never-before seen products – giving these coveted items a launch like no other.”

    Members from over 70% pin codes of India shopped this Prime Day. More than twice as many customers signed up for a Prime membership during the announce to event period compared to last year; Over 40% of new members came from cities outside the top 10 cities including Durgapur, Kurukshetra, Hooghly, Guntur, Satara, Bharuch, Chittoor among others. 1 out of 3 orders placed during Prime Day have already been delivered by the next day. 

    This Prime Day was the biggest sales event ever for Amazon devices in India. Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were among the top selling deals in India, with Fire TV Stick being the top-selling deal across all categories this Prime Day. Top sellers (excluding Amazon Devices) in India included Syska 9-Watt Smart LED Bulb compatible with Amazon Alexa, BoAt Rockerz Sports Bluetooth Wireless Earphone and Godrej Aer Pocket Bathroom Fragrance.

    Members enjoyed shopping for unique products and new launches from small and medium sellers who saw sales volumes increase 67% over last Prime Day.  Kalahaat artisans witnessed their sales volume increase close to 150% and Launchpad sellers experienced a YoY jump of over 65% increase in sales over last Prime Day

    Highlights from Prime Day 2019

    Shopping

    Prime Day 2019 was the biggest 2-day shopping event for Prime members on Amazon.in. 
    This Prime Day was the biggest sales event ever for Amazon devices in India. The most popular deal in India this Prime Day was the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote.
    Customers worldwide made their home smarter this Prime Day by purchasing millions of smart home devices,  and top-selling deals in India included the Echo Dot + 9W Syska bulb
    Top selling smartphones included Apple iPhone XR, Prime day launches OnePlus 7 – Mirror Blue, Samsung Galaxy M40 – Cocktail Orange, OPPO F11 Pro – Waterfall Gray, Redmi Y3, Samsung Galaxy M30 & M20, LG W30 – Aurora Green and flagship models of OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro. Xiaomi was the no.1 selling smart phone brand by unit sales with Redmi Y3 being the highest selling smartphone on Amazon.in by unit sales.Customers purchased top deals in minutes including OnePlus 6T, Samsung Galaxy M10 and Apple XR.
    Top selling large appliances included Samsung’s top-load washing machines, Bosch’s front-loading washing machine/dishwashers and LG & Whirlpool refrigerators. Customers also gave a big thumbs up to the newly launched IFB Alexa-enabled washing machine, Whirlpool’s top-load washing machine & Haier’s side-by-side refrigerator.
    Top-selling apparel brands included U.S. Polo Association, United colors of Benetton, Levis, Jockey and Biba. Popular luggage brands included American Tourister, Skybags and Safari and top-selling footwear brands included Fila, Sketchers, Catwalk and Paragon. Top-selling handbags included Lavie, Caprese, Hidesign and Van Heusen while top-selling Jewelry brands included Tribe by Amrapali and Peora.
    Headphones, Bluetooth speakers and cameras were the most bought consumer electronics. Top selling brands were Mi, BoAt, Boult, JBL and Sennheiser. Xiaomi emerged as the top consumer electronics brand by unit sales.
    Members enjoyed the convenience of shopping for Everyday essentials. Top sellers were Maggi Fusian, Max cold pressed virgin coconut oil and Lipton tea bags. Other popular brands included Tata Sampann, Kellogg’s cornflakes, Aashirvaad Ghee and Dabur Honey among others.
    Entertainment

    Members watched Prime Video in over 4,000 towns and cities across India.
    From the announcement to the Prime Day period, Prime members streamed music in over 35 Indian and international languages on Prime Music.
    Prime Music India saw the highest listeners ever in the week leading up to Prime Day.
    Since the announcement to the Prime Day event, the most streamed celebrity curated playlists were Neha Kakkar, Armaan Malik, Shreya Ghoshal and Hrithik Roshan.
    Savings

    Members used Amazon Pay to shop 50% more on partner sites during the announce to event period enjoying cashbacks and special offers from sites like Yatra, Box 8, Eazydiner, Medlife.
    2 out of 5 Prime members using HDFC bank cards for their purchases availing 10% instant bank discount
    Spotlight on Small and Medium sellers

    Members appreciated the unique selection from small and medium businesses. With exposure to Prime members across India at an all-time high, over 4500 small & medium sellers in India saw sales above INR 10 Lakhs. 
    Top selling products from SMBs included Power Gummies Hair Vitamin, Anti-Theft Backpack with USB Charging Port and Ayurvedic products from Kapiva.

    Shrey Badhani, Founder at Kapiva Ayurveda, said “At the outset, we would like to thank our customers and the Amazon team for their constant support and guidance that led to a successful Prime Day for brand Kapiva! This was our second Prime Day and our first with the Launchpad team. We have seen our highest ever per day sales over these two days and are excitedly waiting for Prime Day 2020!”

    Ankita Chaudhary, COO Power Gummies said ''Prime Day gave us an unique opportunity to showcase our brand Power Gummies hair vitamins and also provided us a key insights on pricing and inventory. It helped us in boosting our revenue and brand recognition. During the event, we saw our highest ever per day sale – Thank You Amazon!''
     

  • Amazon Prime Music launches innovative voice controls powered by Alexa to further enhance Prime members’ music listening experience

    Amazon Prime Music launches innovative voice controls powered by Alexa to further enhance Prime members’ music listening experience

    MUMBAI: Amazon Music today announced the launch of more innovative voice features on Alexa- available only on Amazon Prime Music – both in its mobile app as well as on Echo family devices. Amazon Prime Music listeners can now simply use voice to ask Alexa to play their favorite songs that they haven’t heard in a while. Also launching today is the ability to easily create new playlist(s) or add to the existing playlists just by asking, no searching or browsing required. 

    Amazon Prime Music now makes it easier to go back and listen to music from an earlier point in time by asking Alexa, eliminating the need to remember specific track titles or look back through listening history. Listeners can easily ask for their recently played songs or even those they haven’t heard in a while by artist, genre or time to make the listening experience even easier, including “Alexa, play music that I was listening to last week” or “Alexa, play me the Arijit Singh song I was listening to three weeks ago”. Also launching today is the ability to ask, “Alexa create a new playlist from this song” or add a song from their play queue to an existing personal playlist, making it easier to track and explore music while significantly enhancing the day-to-day listening experience. 

    Sahas Malhotra, Director, Amazon Prime Music India, said, “At Amazon, we constantly listen to our customers’ feedback and innovate to serve their needs in the best possible ways. With the launch of these new ways to discover music, we have made it easier than ever to make the music listening using your voice simpler and easier with Alexa being more like your best friend who understands you well and knows what you want to listen to – all just by asking! With the ad-free music streaming now coupled with the power and simplicity of Alexa Voice controls, Amazon Prime Music will continue to offer simpler, easier and more fun ways to listen to your favourite music.” 

    Now, simply ask for recently played music by artist, genre, or time to make the listening experience even easier. For example, say:
    • “Alexa, play me songs which I recently played”
    • “Alexa, play me the Arijit Singh song I listened to last month” 
    • “Alexa, play me hip hop music I was listening to three weeks ago” 
    • Or even try, “Alexa, play music that I was listening to earlier today” 

    Rediscover your favourite songs you haven’t played in a while, and enjoy without the need to manually scan the search bar or listening history, just try:
    • “Alexa, play songs I haven’t heard in a while”
    • “Alexa, play Rihanna songs I haven’t heard in a while” 
    • “Alexa, play rock songs I haven’t heard recently” 
    • Don’t know what to ask? Just say, “Alexa, play something I haven’t heard in a while” and let her take you down the memory lane.

    While listening to Amazon Prime Music on Echo family devices, add a new song to a playlist, or create a new one by asking:                                              

    • “Alexa, create a new playlist”
    • “Alexa, create a workout playlist”
    • “Alexa, create the playlist ‘My favorite hits’”
    • “Alexa, add this song to my playlist”

    Learn more at https://www.amazon.in/newwithalexa

    Amazon Prime Music is an ad-free service launched as a Prime benefit at no additional cost to the annual membership of INR 999/- and monthly membership of INR 129/-. Amazon Prime Music includes tens of millions of songs across major International and Indian music labels in over 10 languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu and more. Amazon Prime Music is available on Android and iOS mobile phone apps, Desktop app and Web player, Amazon Fire TV sticks and Amazon Echo devices.

  • Prime Members in India enjoyed the biggest Prime Day yet; record number of members shopped deals and streamed movies and music

    Prime Members in India enjoyed the biggest Prime Day yet; record number of members shopped deals and streamed movies and music

    More customers in India joined the Prime membership program in the week leading up to Prime Day than in any other week before, with more than 35% of new members living in tier 2-3 towns.

    The best-selling Amazon devices in India this Prime Day were Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote and Echo Dot.

    The best-selling categories were smartphones, large & home appliances, apparel and daily essentials.

    Prime Day saw 200+ exclusive product launches from brands including Nestlé NesPlus, OnePlus, Marks & Spencer and Bosch.

    Members loved Prime Now’s ultra-fast delivery in major metros, with all same-day delivery slots selling out in record time.

    Comicstaan broke the record for being the most watched Amazon Prime Original series in its first week on Prime Video in India.

    Prime members in India joined members in 16 other countries to celebrate Prime Day, Amazon’s exclusive shopping event for Prime members. The 36 hours during Prime Day saw members in India shop and stream as never before, taking advantage of 200+ exclusive new product launches, thousands of deals, and video & music selections specially curated for Prime Day. More new Prime members joined the program in the one week leading up to Prime Day than any week since the launch of Prime in India. Additionally, more members than ever enjoyed Prime Video and Amazon Prime Music content, with the week leading up to Prime Day having the highest number of streamers ever.

    “Prime Day offers us a unique opportunity to thank Prime members with a celebration of our best deals, exclusive selection as well as new Prime Video and Prime Music content,” said Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President and Country Head, Amazon India. “Extending Prime Day to 36 hours this year allowed us to further reward members with unbeatable deals, access to exclusive new products and unforgettable experiences that highlight the many benefits of a Prime membership. We also want to thank our sellers, brands and our content partners who helped to make Prime Day bigger and better.”

    Amazon Prime Day 2018 Shopping Highlights (Compared to normal business days in June 2018)

    ·   Prime members shopped for deals and streamed content across hundreds of cities in India, including Lucknow, Ludhiana, Jamshedpur, Ahmedabad, Noida, Thane, Kochi, Ernakulam, amongst others.

    · Customers in India purchased over 5X as many Fire TV devices this Prime Day than last Prime Day. July 17 was the best day ever for Echo devices on Amazon.in.

    · Wireless grew over 5X, offering members brands like OnePlus, Redmi, Huawei and Honor.

    · Large Appliance grew 9X and included selection from Bosch dishwashers and washing machines. 

    ·  Everyday essentials saw 3X overall growth with Amazon Pantry finding strong customer favour. Members enjoyed brands like Nestle’s new breakfast cereal NesPlus, Saffola Oats, Dettol Liquid Handwash and Nivea Fresh Active Deodarant.

    Fashion saw an over 2X growth with new brand launches including brands like Marks & Spencer and New Balance.

    Consumer Electronics grew over 4X, with a Buy One Get One deal from TCL TVs and new launch of Sennheiser Wireless Noise Cancellation headphones

    Prime members topped up their Amazon Pay balance 7X more than on a regular day.

    Prime Video & Prime Music Highlights

    · The week leading up to Prime Day was Prime Video’s best ever, with the highest number of streamers in India ever.

    Comicstaan, launched in the run-up to Prime Day, broke the record to become the most watched Amazon Prime Original series in its first week on Prime Video in India.

    With the recently launched Vodafone Youth Offer on Amazon Prime, we saw young consumers bingeing on comedy – Comicstaan, Zakir Khan: Haq Se Single, Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare, and hit Bollywood movies  – Padmaavat and Sonu ke Titu Ki Sweety

    Members streamed music in 18 Indian and international languages on Prime Music in the week leading upto Prime Day.

    Top three songs streamed on Prime day were Dilbar from Satyamev Jayate, Tareefan from Veere Di Wedding and Dhadak title track from Dhadak.

    Small and Medium-Sized Business Spotlight

    Prime Day 2018 was a success for small and medium-sized businesses who put their passion and unique skill sets on display. Prime members around India purchased thousands of products from these entrepreneurs, startups, artisans and mom-and-pop shops. Over 50,000 participating small and medium-sized businesses saw an average growth of 240% this Prime Day over an average day in June. Amazon Launchpad start-ups saw an average of 6X growth . In the new Prime exclusive launches, RoadGods (Xator backpack), Leaf Wearables (Beast headphones), Spruce Shave Club (beard oil & beard wash), Fego (motor bike air suspension seat) and Smartivity (DIY educational toys) were among the most popular products.

    “We are extremely happy with how Prime Day turned out for us. Our brand saw a spike of over 2X in sales and units sold over business as usual! This is very encouraging for us and the artisans working with us.”- Ravi and Gunjeet Singh, Two Moustaches

    “Prime Day 2018 has been phenomenal for RoadGods. The response to our new products ‘Xator’ and ‘Blue Ghost’ have been extremely encouraging. We saw a 2X growth in our overall business in just 36 hours! ” – Apoorv Mangalam RoadGods

    “Being a new start-up on Amazon Launchpad, this was our first Prime Day experience and we couldn’t have asked for more. Our brand saw more than 10X sales growth over business as usual in less than two days. And the cherry on the cake was to get mattress orders from all across the country, from Faridabad to Mysore.” – Ankit Garg, Wakefit

    Brand Spotlight

    “Red as a colour emotes a sense of self-confidence and positivity, and with the OnePlus 6 Red Edition, we aim to deliver a vivid sensory experience that will last for years. Amazon’s Prime Day is a great opportunity for our community to get their hands on this special edition in India. Last year, we received record sales for OnePlus 5 during Prime Day and this year, OnePlus 6 Red has crossed that mark by miles.” said Vikas Agarwal, General Manager – India, OnePlus

    “The launch of NesPlus through a digital-first approach marks an important milestone in the brand’s journey. We are extremely overwhelmed by the response that NesPlus has received for Prime Day across the towns and cities of India. NesPlus became no. 1 in the gourmet section of grocery and sold 1 unit every 3 seconds within hours of being on sale. With consumers increasingly opting for solutions online, it has become vital for all brands to move towards an integrated plan of action. Over a million customers have already interacted with the brand so far through the various online initiatives, specially the Virtual Reality integration. We are very excited to partner with Amazon for the NesPlus journey in India.” said Aparna Chopra, Business Executive Officer, Nestlé Breakfast Cereals

    Unique Prime experiences Across India

    In the weeks leading up to Prime Day 2018, Prime members saw Amazon unbox real-world experiences across the country. Amazon India had featured a virtual reality (VR) experience for customers in India’s top metros. Tens of thousands of customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata visited top malls before July 17 to experience hundreds of new products launching exclusively on Prime Day. Additionally, pop-up installations and augmented reality experiences fueled customer excitement in the run-up to Prime Day 2018.

    Every Day Made Better with Prime

    Prime is designed to make your life better every single day. Over 100 million Prime members around the world enjoy the many benefits of Prime. In India, this includes unlimited free & fast shipping, unlimited access to award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Video, unlimited access to millions of songs ad-free with Prime Music, early access to Lightning Deals and more. Members in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai can enjoy ultra-fast 2-hour delivery on Amazon devices, consumer electronics and everyday essentials on the Prime Now app. Log on to www.amazon.in/prime and become a Prime member today.

  • Jio announces significant benefits to existing jio prime members

    Jio announces significant benefits to existing jio prime members

    MUMBAI: After enabling an enriched Digital Life experience for over 175 million Jio Prime Members, Jio now brings another bonanza for its existing PRIME members.

    All Jio PRIME members who have subscribed to the exclusive membership benefits till 31st March 2018 will get another year of complimentary PRIME benefits at NO additional fee (LIMITED PERIOD OFFER). Jio deeply values its loyal PRIME members and will continue to deliver additional benefits and superior value to these founding members.

    For new Jio users, the Jio Prime Membership continues to be available at an annual membership fees of Rs 99.

    The continued availability of the Jio Prime Membership to new subscribers reiterates Jio’s commitment to deliver a differentiated Digital Life experience to Indians and will propel this into the world’s largest loyalty programme.

    In the past year, PRIME customers have experienced:

    1.           BEST TARIFFS IN THE INDUSTRY
    a.           Highest quality service at the best rates in the industry
    b.           Everyday More Value (EDMV) promise to provide 20% – 50% more value to Jio PRIME users ALWAYS

    2.           COMPLIMENTARY ACCESS TO THE BEST CONTENT LIBRARY
    a.    550+ Live TV Channels b.    6,000+ movies
    c.    Lacs of Videos/TV shows d.    1.4+ Cr Songs
    e.           5,000+ magazines
    f.            500+ newspapers and so on…

    3.           MYJIO – THE DIGITAL GATEWAY
    a.    Single click access to 24*7 self-service and account management 
    b.    Access to all Jio applications and other innovations
    c.                 Access to the best deals and offers

    4.    ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ONLY FOR JIO CUSTOMERS
    a.    Winter Olympics 2018 exclusively on JioTV
    b.    Nidahas Cricket Trophy 2018 exclusively on JioTV
    c.    Carabao Cup exclusively on JioTV (Arsenal vs Manchester City), to name a few

    5.    ACCESS TO “MONEY CAN’T BUY” EXPERIENCE
    a.    Jio KBC Play Along – Play KBC with Sh. Amitabh Bachchan 
    b.    Meet and greet with celebrities & sports personalities
    c.    Platinum access to live shows and concerts – Filmfare, Justin Bieber Concert, Ed Sheeran Concert, Lakme Fashion Week, Jio MAMI Film Festival… and so on

    6.    ACCESS TO INDIA-FIRST INNOVATION
    a.    7 days Catch-Up of LiveTV
    b.    Interactivity on sports – 5 different camera views to choose from and commentary in 6 languages during Nidahas trophy

    HOW TO GET JIO PRIME BENEFITS

    1.    EXISTING JIO PRIME MEMBERS (Joining date on or before 31st March, 2018)

    Step 1: Download MyJio
    Step 2: Express your interest to get COMPLIMENTARY membership for next 12 months
    Step 3: Enjoy Jio Prime benefits This is a limited period offer.

    2.           NEW JIO PRIME MEMBERS (Joining date on or after 1st April, 2018)

    Pay Rs 99 during on-boarding, for Jio Prime membership for annual subscription.

    With the on-going augmentation of content offerings and consumer engagement programs, Jio is gearing up to bring new and superior experiences with the PRIME program and will ensure that PRIME members get substantially better benefits than the counterparts in the industry.