More Americans are buying their retail products online than ever before, and more of them are doing so through Amazon Prime.

Recent analysis released by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) reveals that membership in Amazon's Prime programs is above 85 million members in the United States alone. The statistic serves as a benchmark as Amazon Prime membership is up by 35 percent from the year prior and double from two years ago.

The analysis also reported that 63 percent of all U.S. Amazon customers have Prime memberships and use them actively. Other findings in the analysis concluded that 28 percent members pay to enjoy the benefits of Prime on a monthly basis at a $10.99 per month rate versus paying the full annual rate of $99.

Despite the slower quarterly growth, Amazon has been successful in driving Prime membership up.

CIRP reports that, on average, members spend about $1,300 per year versus non-members who spend an average of $700 per year.

“Amazon Prime membership encourages much more frequent shopping, likely because the free shipping benefit knocks down a key barrier to buying online often and makes Amazon their first stop for online purchases,” noted Mike Levin, co-founder of CIRP, in a report from GeekWire covering the analysis.

Prime accounts for a large portion of Amazon's business and total sales. Jeff Bezos is on record saying that it is ridiculous not to be a member of Amazon's premium program.

“Our goal with Amazon Prime, make no mistake, is to make sure that if you are not a Prime member, you are being irresponsible,” he said in a statement.

In 2016, Amazon brought home $47.72 billion in gross income and $2.37 billion in net income. For both metrics, it is an upward trend as sales grow while the entire U.S.-based retail e-commerce industry is on track to be valued at $485.27 billion in sales by 2021.

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