One of the major advantages of Amazon is that many of the products you buy on the site can be delivered in an incredibly short time. This is typically the next day, although in some cases, Amazon can even get your purchase to you the same day it was ordered. This service first launched in 2005, with Amazon allowing members to pay a yearly subscription fee of $79 to access free two-day shipping across the U.S. and other locations worldwide. This was the start of what would eventually become a major part of Amazon’s additional businesses over the coming years.
Amazon Prime later expanded to offer other benefits outside of faster shipping. Significantly, 2011 saw the introduction of Amazon Prime Video, a streaming service that offered thousands of movies and television series to Amazon Prime members at no extra cost. The same year, Amazon added access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library as part of the subscription. In 2014, the price of Amazon Prime was increased to $99, although it now came bundled with Amazon Music.
The subscription service now offers grocery shopping, free access to certain games, Twitch subscriptions, free ebooks, and an expansive collection of streaming services. Jeff Bezos revealed in 2021 that Amazon Prime had over 200 million active users.
