{"id":339131,"date":"2017-04-24T20:58:20","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T12:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1479880"},"modified":"2017-04-24T20:58:20","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T12:58:20","slug":"amazon-launches-subscribe-with-amazon-a-marketplace-for-digital-subscriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/amazon-launches-subscribe-with-amazon-a-marketplace-for-digital-subscriptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon launches \u201cSubscribe with Amazon,\u201d a marketplace for digital subscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amazon has made headway in the subscription business with its Subscribe & Save feature for consumers, which offers discounted pricing on\u00a0products if you agree to buy on a recurring basis. Now, the retailer is looking to expand its subscription footprint with a new program called Subscribe with Amazon<\/a>, which aims to\u00a0make Amazon the place to discover, subscribe to and manage a range of\u00a0digital subscriptions \u2013 from streaming services to\u00a0subscription-based apps,\u00a0from meal planning services\u00a0to online\u00a0fitness classes, and much more.<\/p>\n

The service has been in development since last year<\/a>, and has been quietly live on Amazon\u2019s site for some time. However, it has not been broadly promoted to consumers \u2013 something that changes today, with the announcement that it\u2019s\u00a0open for\u00a0sign-ups.<\/p>\n

Many of the digital subscriptions\u00a0available on the marketplace\u00a0were things Amazon was already selling \u2013 like news and magazine subscriptions,<\/a>\u00a0or access to its\u00a0kids reading app\u00a0Amazon Rapids<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0its toy-of-the-month club<\/a>, STEM Club<\/a>, for example. But the new portal for Subscribe with Amazon\u00a0aggregates and organizes all the different types of subscriptions under one roof.<\/p>\n

It also offers consumers a single destination where those subscriptions\u00a0can be managed via an online dashboard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A few of the more\u00a0notable names\u00a0available on the site include Disney Story Central,<\/a>\u00a0a subscription-based service for kids stories featuring popular Disney characters; Fitbit\u2019s Fitstar<\/a> personal training platform; Creativebug\u2019s online art and craft classes<\/a>; cloud storage service Dropbox Plus<\/a>; streaming TV service Sling TV;<\/a> meal planning and recipe subscription eMeals<\/a>; concert membership service Jukely<\/a>; and meditation service Headspace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amazon is\u00a0also selling subscriptions to publications, like\u00a0The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker, Consumer Reports. Others live at launch include Texture, LegalZoom, MileIQ, and Tawkify.<\/p>\n

Thought not yet available, we understand the subscription cocktail startup Hooch<\/a>, which offers a free drink a day in bars and clubs in major U.S. metros<\/a>, will soon be\u00a0available on the site. Hooch is an interesting partnership, given that Amazon will have to age-verify subscribers as part of sign-up process.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hooch confirmed its involvement, and the company offered more insight as to why it would want to participate \u2013 beyond the obvious customer acquisition play, that is.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmazon customers will directly manage their subscriptions on the Amazon.com portal,\u201d says Hooch CEO Lin Dai.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think it will be a positive for us because a lot of time our customers don\u2019t mean to cancel, but their credit card expires or they move to a new apartment or different address, and they forget to update their address on Hooch,\u201d he explains. \u201cBut people are more likely to have updated payment methods on Amazon, so we think there will be fewer interruptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone who has ever had to update their credit card information across the web can understand this struggle. It\u2019s often difficult to remember the many services you\u2019ve signed up for, and updating each one individually is a hassle.<\/p>\n

Amazon won\u2019t universally solve this problem, as it\u2019s unlikely to offer subscriptions to its competitors like Netflix or Spotify, but it does have the potential to bring a number of other digital subscriptions together in a single interface for easier management.<\/p>\n

This is an area a handful of startups have been addressing as well, including Trim<\/a>, TrueBill<\/a> and Billy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For consumers, the Subscribe with Amazon portal functions something like an app store for subscriptions. The different types are organized into categories like news and magazines, lifestyle, education, movies & TV (which oddly features select video rentals, too), productivity and software; and more.<\/p>\n

However, the portal won\u2019t be the only way these subscriptions are discovered on Amazon.com. We also understand cross-promotion will\u00a0take place by tying subscriptions to physical products. For example, if you were shopping for cocktail recipe books, you might see the subscription to Hooch<\/a> offered as an item you could bundle with your purchase. This will increase the discoverability of the subscriptions on the site by more narrowing targeting customers who have already shown an interest in a similar product.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For businesses looking to sell subscriptions on the site, Amazon offers self-service tools where they can manage their pricing and take advantage of\u00a0Amazon\u2019s APIs to receive orders and updates from the Subscribe with Amazon service.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also able to offer potential customers a variety of pricing plans \u2013 introductory, monthly, yearly, or even Prime member exclusive discounts. (Texture is the first to offer Prime discounts, with 50% off 6 months of its\u00a0digital magazine service.)<\/p>\n

The commission structure\u00a0is detailed on a page on Amazon\u2019s site<\/a>\u00a0(see above), and\u00a0mirrors the one used today by the Apple App Store<\/a>. In the first year, Amazon takes a 30% cut of the subscription sales, which drops down to 15% after the one-year mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, Amazon has gained extensive experience in the memberships and subscriptions space, innovating across programs like Prime and Kindle Unlimited,\u201d said Lovina McMurchy, general manager of Subscribe with Amazon, in a statement. \u201cToday, we\u2019re excited to extend our selection by offering subscription businesses a self-service way to make their subscriptions available to millions of Amazon customers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Amazon has made headway in the subscription business with its Subscribe & Save feature for consumers, which offers discounted pricing on\u00a0products if you agree to buy on a recurring basis. Now, the retailer is looking to expand its subscription footprint with a new program called Subscribe with Amazon, which aims to\u00a0make Amazon the place to discover, subscribe to and manage a range… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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