Amazon’s push to encourage the whole world to sign up to its Prime members’ service continues: the online retailer has started to make blockbuster movies and games, including Birdman and Grand Theft Auto V, exclusive to Prime members.
The walled-off products are an eclectic selection: they include the Playstation 4 editions of Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (but not editions for other consoles), and the Blu-ray edition of Oscar-winning movie Birdman – but not the DVD.
The exclusivity, which affects customers in the UK and US, seems unlikely to prompt many conversions to the £79-a-year club: all the items are still available from third-party sellers, in many cases undercutting Amazon’s own price, even with the cost of shipping taken in to account.
It seems unlikely to be a cost-saving exercise, either, as the affected items have some of the lowest overheads on the store. Video games have a relatively high selling price, don’t go off if they stay on a shelf too long, and can be stacked and shipped with ease.
When asked about the motivations behind the change, an Amazon spokesman said only that “one of the many benefits of Amazon Prime is access to exclusive selection on a number of great products. Customers who are not Prime members can sign-up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, or they can purchase those items from a Marketplace seller.”
Initially introduced as a loss-leading offer for free unlimited next-day delivery, Prime membership has become one of the most important weapons in Amazon’s arsenal. The service, which now encompasses music and video streaming, free ebooks, free same-day delivery in major cities and online photo storage, is the company’s best shot at creating the sort of ecosystem that is normally reserved for platform owners such as Google, Facebook and Apple.
