Prime Day 2019 is just around the corner and we’ve already seen a handful of Amazon’s competitors roll out their own competing Black Friday in July events. We’ve told you how to prepare and what you can expect on July 15th. In an intriguing twist, Amazon is fighting back again — as Target and others tote the notion of no membership-required deals — by encouraging Prime members to share their accounts with family…and even friends. As you surely know, come Prime Day 2019, the best deals will be reserved for members of Amazon’s expedited delivery service. Those wanting to share Prime memberships with family members will need to do a little more work prior to the big day. Instructions and more details can be found below.
Share Amazon Prime: How and why
Amazon has typically allowed shared Prime memberships over the years, with the idea that it is done within one household. I think we all know that this assumption has been skirted in various ways. Officially, Amazon lets two adults share digital content and Prime benefits at once. Teens and even children can add these benefits to their own accounts with parental control along the way. Amazon sees adults as anyone over 18, so you can tell your kids that those Prime benefits may go away after high school.
If you want to share Prime memberships between family, or even friends, you’ll need to hit up the Amazon Household page. From there you can easily add an adult, teen or child as your needs see fit. Anyone who is on a shared Prime account has access to the following perks along with Prime Day offers:
- Free Prime Delivery benefits
- Streaming access to Prime Video
- Free books with Prime Reading
- Earn 2% rewards on Prime Reload
- Amazon Photos and album sharing
- Free books with Amazon First Reads
- Unlimited listening on Audible Channels
- Early access to Amazon Lightning Deals
Pushing shared memberships for July sales
It’s an old trick from Amazon’s biggest competitors, “What kind of sale requires a membership?” Target, eBay, Best Buy, Walmart and others will all roll out this phrase in the coming weeks as we lead up to Prime Day. Each of which will note that while Amazon is offering plenty of deals on Prime Day, the required $119 annual fee offsets those savings pretty quickly.
Amazon encourages shared Prime memberships to elevate those concerns and bring more shoppers into the fold on the big day. Will it work? I’m sure it will. Other retailers are working hard to make a dent in Prime Day 2019, but Amazon holds the upper-hand in a number of ways.
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