Is Amazon Prime worth it?

I am on the Amazon Prime free trial. Not yet convinced that it will be worth continuing post free trial.

Their email the other day said - "Welcome to Amazon Prime, the best value in online shopping. With your 30-day free trial, you'll enjoy unlimited FREE One-Day Delivery on millions of items, instant streaming of over 15,000 movies and TV episodes, unlimited photo storage, exclusive 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals and access to over 500,000 Kindle Books to borrow for no additional cost every month. Shop, read, watch and enjoy - it's all included in your membership."

At Christmas online almost nine in 10 of us buy our presents, as evidenced by a PayPal study in 2014. So one way to lower the cost of delivery is potentially Amazon Prime.

As the Telegraph noted last year "Amazon, the online giant with more than 244 million worldwide users, offers an alternative to pricey delivery charges. Its "Prime" membership, which costs £79 a year after a month’s free trial, offers free one-day delivery on millions of items on its website, as well as access to 500,000 Kindle titles to "borrow" free of charge.

Users can also get unlimited "streaming" of 15,000 film and television titles with Prime Instant Video.

A Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (Cirp) poll in 2014 showed Amazon Prime’s popularity. Of 500 Amazon consumers between January and March, 42pc were subscribed to Prime, with 48pc of those owning a Kindle or other e-reader device. Cirp estimated that, as of March 31 2014, around 28  million people in America alone were Prime subscribers."

An interesting side point shows the scale of online ordering - Amazon and Royal Mail created 32,000 Christmas jobs 20 Oct 2014

Mike Levin, co-founder of Cirp, said: "Prime serves as a superb affinity programme for Amazon, as Prime members spend twice as much as the rest of Amazon’s customers."

Delivery

Super saver works well if you have time and are organised. If next-day delivery matters, Amazon Prime would be worthwhile if you buy more than 13 items each year. One off none super saver or prime deliveries are costly.

Kindle titles

Prime members get access to 500,000 Kindle books to "borrow" from the "Kindle owners’ lending library". You can borrow only one book each month. But there are unlimited e-reader subscription services like Scribd.

So handy for kindle lovers but useless for everyone else who just wants to shop. You would worry Amazon Prime shoppers are effectively cross subsidising the service.

 

Prime Instant Video

On its own this service costs £5.99 a month, but as a Prime member you get it "free". It gives you access to 15,000 film and television titles. You could, as an alternative, buy the "seasons" of these shows separately to stream online or download. If you regularly watch shows and films online, Prime Membership, which includes Prime Instant Video, is more cost-effective than buying the titles separately.

Amazon’s competitor for streaming services, Netflix, also costs £5.99 a month.

I don't think it's as good as Netflix and I don't think Netflix is much good. Both are good for old stuff and the odd show. That's it and not worth it in my view. Plus I am doubtful it's really 15,000 titles.

Amazon Prime used to be cheaper when it was more focussed on the free delivery. Now expanded to film and kindle it's more expensive.

It's probably only worth it if you are careful to make use of it for deliveries. I suppose it's good for repeat deliveries. But I doubt most of us are that organised.

Plus it's always handy if someone is at home when the delivery arrives which is tricky for most.

On the upside rumour abounds that it's not next day delivery it is next day AFTER Amazon says it's dispatched. If it's late complain and you often receive free months membership.

Verdict - I'll await end of the free trial but am currently sceptical that I can use it enough to make most of it.

Also not a fan of Amazons size and impact on others and wonder about all the tax complaints but don't know enough. I suppose if it is really an issue just use any one of the other many many websites.

Finally it seems Amazon is just another player trying to build an online Eco system like Apple or Google just using free delivery as the USP.