Monthly subscriptions are the only way Amazon is courting low income Prime users

During today’s earnings call, company execs were questioned about how they hope to bring on new Prime customers. Last year, Prime membership increased by about 50%. Specifically, the company was asked if it would begin targeting people in lower-income demographics as other groups become saturated.

While the Amazon executives didn’t touch on how it doesn’t offer same-day service to many predominately low-income areas, CFO Brian Olsavsky said that launching monthly subscriptions was its way of making its service more available to a larger consumer base. He described Prime’s $99 annual fee as a “hurdle” to some, saying that the $10.99 monthly price could be easier for some customers to handle.CGW