For R59 ($3.6) a month, South Africans can now get same-day or next-day delivery on their Amazon orders, access to Prime Video, cloud gaming, and a front-row seat to Prime Day deals.Â
On Wednesday, Amazon, the Jeff Bezos-founded e-commerce company that expanded to South Africa in May 2024, launched Amazon Prime locally, bringing its flagship membership programme to the country for the first time. An annual plan costs R399 ($24), saving members 44% compared to paying monthly.Â
State of play: The subscription will bundle e-commerce delivery perks, free gaming, and streaming services for South Africans, making it one of the most competitive offerings to land in the market at that price point.
Amazon Prime is not new to Africa. Amazon Prime is currently available in 28 countries globally, with monthly prices ranging from $4 to about $8. In Africa, Egypt is the only other market with Prime delivery perks, having launched in 2022, where membership costs EGP 87 ($1.67) every three months or EGP 249 ($4.79) annually. At that price, Egypt’s offering is notably cheaper than South Africa’s.Â
Globally, however, South Africa’s R59 ($3.6) monthly rate sits among the more affordable entry points, with the notable exception that US members, who pay more, get full access to the entire Amazon services ecosystem in return. The service also arrives just in time to rope South Africans into Prime Day, Amazon’s annual global discount event running from June 23 to 26.
An attempt to deepen customer loyalty and increase competition: Takealot, which has spent years building its own loyalty and delivery proposition, now faces a better-funded, globally tested version of the same idea. Checkers Sixty60 built its dominance on free delivery and speed. Prime is now in that lane, too.Â
What Amazon is really launching is not a membership programme. It is the infrastructure that made it unbeatable everywhere else, now pointed directly at South Africa’s most competitive consumer categories, all at once.