????2005年，為了進一步刺激消費者的購買行為，亞馬遜公司（Amazon）推出了Prime服務。用戶只需繳納79美元的年費，就能享受網購商品兩日送達的服務，而且不限產品件數。在此基礎之上，亞馬遜還發起了另外幾項惠及消費者的活動。去年公司推出Prime即時視頻服務，這是一種與在線影片租賃提供商Netflix公司類似的無限量電影電視流服務。公司還創立了針對Kindle用戶的免費數字公共圖書館，提供免費的電子書精選，但只有Prime服務會員才可使用。后來公司宣布每位購買Kindle Fire平板電腦的用戶都能免費獲贈一個月的會員服務。亞馬遜Prime服務的目標很明確，它已經成為公司向平板電腦、流媒體等多種行業秘密進軍的“特洛伊木馬”。公司首席執行官杰夫?貝佐斯為這個雄心勃勃的擴展戰略下了很大賭注，Prime服務很有可能是公司成立17年以來最冒險的一次行動；當然，這也是最有發展前景的一次行動。

????由于亞馬遜未透露Prime服務的具體數據，所以目前的用戶數量尚不清楚。坊間的猜測從300萬到1,000萬都有。【彭博社（Bloomberg）在上周一份報告中指出，真實的增長量會低于亞馬遜自己透露的數據。】富國銀行（Well’s Fargo）分析師馬特?尼莫表示，Prime服務會員的消費額是這項服務推出之前的三倍之多。信息技術分析公司Forrester的分析師蘇查利塔?馬爾普魯稱：“亞馬遜希望潛移默化地讓人們逐漸增加消費，并用其他業務來補償盈利。”（亞馬遜拒絕就此報道發表評論。）

????幾乎可以肯定的是，亞馬遜為Prime服務投入了大量資金。Piper Jaffray投資銀行分析師吉恩?蒙斯特認為，亞馬遜為Prime服務目前投入的錢要比賺的錢還多，平均在每位用戶身上要投入11美元。此外，尼莫還表示，公司在凈運輸成本上損失了約24億美元，其中很大一部分源于Prime服務的運送。亞馬遜的舉動表明，他們為了適應公司擴張步伐，并不在乎利潤率降低，這著實讓某些投資者膽戰心驚。上個季度，雖然通過對新銷售庫房加大投資，銷售額增加了35%，但是利潤暴跌了58%，降至1.77億美元。公司在2011年度報告中寫道：“我們認為給消費者提供低價服務對于公司未來的成功相當重要，降價銷售的一個途徑就是送貨優惠服務。”

????忠誠用戶送貨項目的市場機會似乎很大。有預測稱，2,000千萬到3,000萬個美國家庭愿意購買類似Prime的服務。兩年前成立的Shoprunner電子商務公司是亞馬遜Prime服務的唯一主要競爭者。該公司由電子商務軟件公司GSI Commerce和包括玩具反斗城（Toys 'R Us）和無線電器材公司（Radio Shack）在內的40多家批發零售連鎖實體店進行合作。盡管Shoprunner公司去年的銷售額比前一年增長了一億美元，合作零售商的數量也已經擴大到60家，但分析師認為Prime服務仍然占據著絕對優勢。此外，有報道稱谷歌公司（Google）也準備推出與Prime類似的服務。

????Launched in 2005, Amazon Prime aimed to get customers to spend more. For $79 a year, members got free two-day delivery on an unlimited number of items. Amazon sweetened the pot from there. Last year, it introduced Prime Instant Videos, an unlimited movie and TV streaming service similar to Netflix. It also created the Kindle Owners Lending Library, a digital public library that makes select ebooks available for free. Only Prime members got access. Then, the company announced that each of its Kindle Fire tablets would come with a free month of membership in the box. Prime's real purpose is now clear: it has become the retail giant's Trojan horse into a broad range of businesses, from tablets to streaming media. As CEO Jeff Bezos doubles down on an ambitious growth strategy, Prime may very well be Amazon's riskiest gamble in the company's 17 year history. Not to mention its most promising.

????Because Amazon does not break out Prime data, the number of subscribers remains a mystery. Estimates skew wildly between three million and ten million. (A Bloomberg report last week claimed growth was more sluggish than Amazon has let on.) What's clear is that Prime members spend, upwards of three times what they would without the service, according to Well's Fargo (WFC) analyst Matt Nemer. "Amazon (AMZN) wants to steal wallet share away and use other parts of its business to subsidize profitability," adds Forrester (FORR) analyst Sucharita Mulpuru. (Amazon declined to comment for this story.)

????Also nearly certain, that Prime is costing Amazon. Piper Jaffray (PJC) analyst Gene Munster believes Amazon is spending more money than it earns on the program -- by as much as $11 per user. What's more, the company lost some $2.4 billion last year in net shipping costs, a large part of that attributable to Prime shipping says Nemer. Amazon has shown it doesn't mind lower margins to accommodate expansion, spooking some investors. In the most recent quarter, profits plunged 58% to $177 million, despite a 35% jump in sales, due to heavy investments in new sales fulfillment centers. "We believe that offering low prices to our customers is fundamental to our future success, and one way we offer lower prices is through shipping offers," the company wrote in its 2011 annual report.

????The market opportunity for a loyalty shipping program appears quite large. By one estimate, between 20 and 30 million U.S. households may be willing to pay for something like Prime. Shoprunner, a counteroffensive launched two years ago by GSI Commerce in partnership with over 40 brick and mortar chains like Toys 'R Us and Radio Shack (RSH), remains the only other major competitor. Though Shoprunner drove more than $100 million in sales last year and now works with 60 retailers, analysts believe Prime remains dominant. To wit, Google (GOOG) reportedly wants to get into the game with a Prime-like service of its own.