Will Amazon thrive on the power of wallets wielded by wealthier customers?
According to news from CNBC.com, Amazon Prime members have a place among the retailing giant’s installed base as the “golden jewel” of its consumers during the current holiday shopping season. That’s according to research from GBH Insights.
An analyst with the firm, Daniel Ives, wrote in a note that the company could garner a significant amount of online spending from the month of November and on into the dawn of 2018. How significant? On the order of 50 percent of sales, estimated Ives.
Last year through the same timeframe, Amazon captured 38 percent of online sales. The Prime consumer carries some weight here, spending on the order of as much as 25 percent more through the holiday shopping season. In his note, Ives said that “the ring-fence that Amazon has built around its Prime customer base has significantly benefited the company in a fiercely competitive Cyber Monday pricing environment, with much more competitive prices from Walmart in particular seen across inventory during the day.”
Other research, such as that of Adobe Insights, has said that digital transactions across 100 major U.S. retailers will move past the $100 billion mark — a first. However, Ives maintained that Amazon is the “clear star of the show” when it comes to retail. CNBC said, citing Statista, that Amazon Prime counts 85 million subscribers (paying ones!) among its base, and that consumer spending averages $1,300 on the site annually.