Amazon Prime sees growth

Amazon Prime shipped over five billion items worldwide in 2017 in addition to adding a record breaking number of new members, according to Business of Fashion. This marked the first time that Amazon has discussed their Prime shipment numbers, and they declined to reveal comparable 2016 numbers. During the holiday season alone, Prime shipped over one billion items.

Prime rose to prominence thanks to their free two-day shipping service, which in the age of instant consumer demand, helped attract many subscribers. Prime members also receive unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Prime Video.

Currently, Amazon Prime is available in over 16 countries worldwide.

As Amazon continues to dominate the e-commerce space, it was predicted by analyst Gene Munster that they would buy Target to expand their offline footprint. Amazon is focused on taking a larger share of the family market, and Target is known as a go-to spot for moms. According to Munster, "Target is the ideal offline partner for Amazon for two reasons, shared demographic and manageable but comprehensive store count."