Amazon has just announced something that its customers in Spain will surely not like. The price of your Prime subscription has just risen significantly, as it has already done in other countries. Specific, will go from 3.99 to 4.99 euros, and 13.90 the annual subscription, which will do it from 36 to 49.90 euros. This represents, respectively, increases of 25% and 38.8%.
But Prime, with more than 175 million users worldwide, has already undertaken these increases without noticing a decrease in its clients because it has become a basic for many of them. Prime offers, in addition to fast and cheap delivery on tens of thousands of products, access to Prime Video, unlimited photo storage and several other benefits.
Its origin, however, was a test at a time when Amazon was not the giant it is right now. Bezos founded Amazon as an online bookstore in 1994.
In 2005, Bezos, with the help of his then number two, the now-retired Jeff Wilke, launched Amazon Prime., a loyalty program that was the first of its kind. For $79 a year in the United States, customers had access to free two-day shipping on more than a million items. All possible thanks to the logistics work that Wilke had carried out in previous years and that allowed such a fast delivery.
Prime opened a type of market that did not exist until then, making customers much more recurring
Amazon Prime kicked off when most retailers were offering four- or six-day shipping for items. Prime quickly changed the norm, not just for customers, but for the entire retail industry. But that payment was not usual for the consumer, and he had to maintain it for a few years even though there were not too many who took the step.
It also involved changes for its suppliers. Bezos forced any retailer that wanted relevance within Amazon to at least consider offering fast, free delivery.
Amazon Prime, which now has more than 150 million subscribers worldwide, grew so large that Amazon even created a fake sale day out of it, the now-known Prime Day. Completely altering the retail calendar in the United States, and then around the world.
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This is how Jeff Bezos launched Amazon Prime: a risky bet that was the key to his success