Right on the heels of Black Friday, Amazon has announced that it will be offering customers a special discount on membership in its Amazon Prime service, cutting the price to $79 per year from the regular $99 fee it usually charges for an annual membership. The one-day-only sale will run on Friday, Nov. 18 from 12 a.m. ET and conclude at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Black Friday Almost Here
The holiday shopping season is about to kick into full gear, and most of the nation's top retailers such as Costco ,Best Buy and Walmart have already announced their Black Friday deals on some of the hottest items in technology and other categories. We're even seeing leaks of Cyber Monday deals from some outlets.
Amazon has already been rolling out pre-Black Friday deals in what it calls its "countdown to Black Friday." Many of the online giant's actual Black Friday deals, however, have yet to be announced, with the few exceptions being planned discounts on branded items such as the Echo personal assistant and various Fire TV streaming products.
Amazon Prime Membership Discount
In anticipation of the holiday season, Amazon has announced a one-day discount on its most popular in house "item," that is, a membership to its Amazon Prime service. At last count in January 2016, no less than 54 million Americans held Prime memberships, accounting for almost half of U.S. households. The most popular perk of the membership is, of course, the free two-day shipping and discounted one-day shipping on hundreds of thousands of Prime eligible items.
The holiday shopping season is the most popular time to join Prime, and for one day only, this Friday, Nov. 18, Amazon has announced that it will cut the price of an annual Prime membership by 20 percent, from the usual $99 per year fee to $79 annually for the first year of membership. When Amazon first launched Prime, the service cost $79, but the price was raised to $99 per year in 2014.
New Amazon Prime Video Programming
At that time, Amazon explained the price hike would be offset by the additional services available to Prime members, and in that regard, the company has been beefing up its Amazon Prime Video streaming offerings with numerous original programming choices. Amazon is using the membership sale to promote one of those shows, a new motoring travel series known as The Grand Tour, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, formerly of BBC program Top Gear.
"Amazon is committed to bringing Prime members programming that is unique and exciting," said Conrad Riggs, Head of Unscripted, Amazon Originals. "We are thrilled to bring back together the world's beloved hosting team of Clarkson, Hammond and May for extraordinary adventures that can only be seen on Amazon Prime Video."
