07/11/2025
Let me remind you of something simple:
Back in 2005, Amazon launched Prime â
an annual subscription for just $79.
At the time, customer acquisition costs were insane.
And free shipping? It was burning through their profits.
Marketers were shocked:
âHow does this even make sense?â
But Bezos saw the bigger picture.
He realized that once customers joined Prime,
they spent 2â3x more than regular shoppers.
Why?
Because when shipping becomes âfree,â
people start buying anything that crosses their mind.
Fast-forward to today:
A Prime member spends around $1,400 per year.
A regular customer? Only $600.
And hereâs the mistake most marketers still make:
They obsess over Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
Yes, it matters.
But ignoring Lifetime Value (LTV)? Thatâs su***de.
CAC has a limit â you can only reduce it so much.
But revenue per customer?
It has no ceiling. đ