Amazon looks to hook young adults to Prime by offering $25 flights

The news: Amazon is teaming up with travel site StudentUniverse to offer $25 domestic flights to members of its Prime for Young Adults program.

This marks the second-straight year of the promotion, which offers 1,000 $25 domestic flight tickets daily from December 9–13.

The strategy: Cheap airfare is one of several ways that Amazon has sought to drive consumers into its Prime ecosystem.

• The flight promotion aims to pique younger consumers’ interest and includes a half-price Prime membership for 18- to 24-year-olds and college students.
• The retailer, in partnership with Grubhub, is also currently offering new young adult members a free six-month trial of Amazon Prime, after which they can pay $7.49 per month, or $69 per year.
• While several perks are offered via Amazon-owned businesses like Prime Video and Amazon Music, the retailer has sought to broaden Prime’s utility by expanding its offerings beyond its ecosystem. For example, in addition to free membership in Grubhub+, it offers fuel discounts at roughly 7,000 bp, Amoco, and ampm locations across the US.

Our take: Amazon aims to hook younger consumers on Prime by delivering a tremendous bang for the buck. In addition to driving a significant recurring revenue stream, Prime also makes Amazon the default retailer of choice for many of those members.

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