• Amazon is fighting for customers in India
• Test started with cheaper Prime subscription
• “Prime Lite” contains fewer services
At the end of 2022, Amazon stopped three business ideas in India: the wholesale website Amazon Distribution, the online learning platform Amazon Academy and the food delivery service Amazon Food. “We are discontinuing these programs in phases in order to take care of the current customers and partners,” a company spokeswoman explained these steps according to the German Press Agency.
Many corporations see India as the second most populous country with more than 1.3 billion inhabitants as a potential growth market. However, according to a report by wealth management firm Bernstein, Amazon is still struggling with profitability almost ten years after entering the market. But the world’s largest online mail order company is not giving up, but is apparently starting a new attempt to improve its position in the country.
Cheap Prime membership
According to information from “Business Insider”, Amazon is now offering a slimmed-down version of its Prime package on a test basis in the Indian market. The Prime membership, which is very popular with users, offers many advantages such as fast and free delivery, e-books, a music service and the video streaming service Prime Video. But all of this has its price: A standard Prime membership in India costs 1,499 Indian rupees (just under 17 euros) per year or optionally 459 Indian rupees (around 5.20 euros) per quarter or 179 rupees per month.
Because this Prime membership is an important means of customer loyalty for Amazon, the US group is now looking for ways to turn those users into regular customers who do not want to afford membership at the current costs. Therefore, a test has now been started with a new, cheaper Prime membership, which, however, offers fewer advantages than the full Prime package. So far, however, the new “Prime Lite” subscription is only available to selected Prime members in a beta version. The introductory price for this is 999 Indian rupees (around 11.30 euros) per year.
Fewer functions with “Prime Lite”
However, due to the reduced price, users of “Prime Lite” have to do without some services. For example, delivery remains free of charge as usual with no minimum order value, but only two-day delivery is guaranteed, not one-day.
There are also restrictions on streaming content as part of Prime Video. Users can continue to watch films and series, but no longer ad-free, but interrupted by advertisements and no longer in high resolution, i.e. only SD instead of HD format. In addition, only two devices can be used for streaming.
Users of the cheaper subscription model even have to do without some functions completely, such as the Prime Music offer, the advantages of Prime Gaming and the rotating selection of free e-books and e-magazines at Prime Reading.
Uncertainty about “Prime Lite”
This test in India is only a beta version. When and in which countries “Prime Lite” will finally be officially launched is currently unknown. So it seems questionable whether this variant will ever be offered in the West, where the average salary is significantly higher than in India.
Editorial office finanzen.net
Leverage must be between 2 and 20
No data
More news about Amazon
Image sources: Vladimka production / Shutterstock.com, Hadrian / Shutterstock.com