Alexa Users Spend Big On Amazon

Amazon Echo owners are among the eCommerce giant’s most loyal customers — and the most frequent of its shoppers, according to Wednesday (Jan. 3) reports from CNBC.

That’s according to new research from equity securities research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which noted owners of Amazon’s Echo smart speakers spend $1,700 on average each year on Amazon, higher than the $1,300 Amazon Prime customers spend annually. What’s more, the figure is 66 percent higher than the average spending rate of all Amazon customers around the globe.

“We’ve long thought that Amazon is keenly focused on building increasingly loyal and frequent shopping customers, and Echo seems to promote that goal,”  CIRP’s co-founder Josh Lowitz said in the report. “Based on the spending patterns of Echo owners, Amazon can certainly subsidize sales its Echo devices.” 

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners polled 2,000 U.S. Amazon customers during a 12-month period that ended in September. The researchers found the huge spending on the part of Echo customers is one of the reasons Amazon has been slashing prices on Echo devices, and is also why the eCommerce giant is rolling out different Echo devices — including one with a screen.

Amazon announced earlier this week that more than 5 billion items were shipped worldwide in 2017 through its Prime Membership program. In a press release, the company said more new paid members joined Prime around the globe in 2017 than in any other year.

“From Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot to Imagine Dragons, ‘Manchester by the Sea’ and even the Instant Pot, Prime members certainly have great taste!” said Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime in a press release. “Tens of millions of members around the world enjoy the many benefits included with Prime.” 

According to Amazon, the Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot were the bestselling products purchased by Prime members in the U.S. during 2017, and that takes into account every manufacturer in any category across all of the eCommerce marketplace.