Amazon is trying to be your one-stop subscription shop
'Subscribe with Amazon' is the retailer's latest move to own your shopping.
Amazon's subscription offerings go beyond Kindle Unlimited, Prime and its various add-ons. The retailer has offered magazine subscriptions for awhile too, and now the company has set up Subscribe with Amazon. It's a hub that gives "subscription providers the ability to offer customers flexible pricing including introductory, monthly and annual pricing options, as well as the opportunity to explore offering Prime exclusive deals," Amazon said in a press release.
The messaging on the customer-facing portal describes subscriptions as "fun to discover" and leverages the company's reputation ("relax, we are always here for you") and ease-of-use as key selling points. As for Prime-exclusive deals, right now you can pick up a free month of Dropbox Plus and two weeks of Amazon Rapids for free, among others.
The requirements seem pretty lax too. As a developer, all you need to get in on the program is to offer an app, website or software; have a US business address and sell a subscription that has recurring fees. Amazon takes the internet-standard 30 percent cut of a subscription's first year, and that decreases to 15 percent if someone renews.
"You have full control over pricing, with the option to create different tiers of service, offer a free trial or set an introductory price," according to the Subscribe with Amazon page. "Subscribe with Amazon is a self-service solution that allows you to make your digital subscription purchasable to millions of highly qualified shoppers who trust Amazon to be their primary shopping destination."
That last line is the key here: Amazon is angling to be everyone's goto stop for online shopping, and it's going to use the subscription service to further push that.
