10 Best Alternatives to Amazon Prime for an Online Shopper
By Corbin HartwickUpdated on March 7, 2022
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The Amazon Prime membership program is one of the most popular subscriptions, offering irresistible benefits that has led to widespread adoption from users. They offer free shipping for pretty much anything you need and additional features such as access to great TV, film, and music content. While Amazon Prime is a leader in the industry for their performance and convenience, let’s look at alternatives to Amazon Prime shopping that can give you similar benefits.
What is covered in this article
Let’s jump right into checking out subscriptions that you can opt for to find the best deals and products online.
5 subscription-based alternatives to Amazon Prime
The following shopping marketplaces offer monthly or annually payable memberships that give its users benefits like exclusive access, discounts, and free and fast shipping. Some of them allow customers to try the service for free before buying it to see if paying the membership is worth it or not. Let’s look at some of them below:
1. Barnes & Noble
Image credit: Barnes & Noble
Ships To: USA
Free Trial Amount: 30-day free trial
Best Feature: 40% off hardcover bestsellers in store.
Cost to Create Account: $25/year
Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/) is one of the largest bookstore chains in the USA with over 600 locations. Their membership gives customers access to a 20% sign-up bonus, free shipping, a 10% in-store discount, special birthday offers, and 10% off on NOOK reading devices.
2. ShopRunner
Image credit: ShopRunner
Ships To: USA
Free Trial Amount: 3-months free trial
Best Feature: Free for Paypal members, MasterCard World/WorldElite, and American Express card holders.
Cost to Create Account: $79/year
ShopRunner is a shipping partner that allows users to enjoy free two-day shipping. Customers can shop from brands like Neimen Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Under Armour, and others, looking for ShopRunner’s logo on the checkout page to receive their delivery faster than it would usually take.
3. Target RedCard
Image credit: Target
Ships To: USA | Canada
Free Trial Amount: None
Best Feature: Use RedCard at Starbucks for a 5% discount.
Cost to Create Account: None
Find everything under one roof at Target, whether it’s apparel, groceries, office supplies, or toys. Target’s RedCard membership works like a credit or debit card that you can link to your existing bank account to receive 5% discounts on all products, free 2-day shipping, more time to return your purchases, and other exclusive offers.
4. WishPlus
Image credit: Wish
Ships To: Worldwide
Free Trial Amount: None
Best Feature: Wish Cash never expires.
Cost to Create Account: $4.79/month
Wish is an online marketplace that delivers across the world, connecting customers with merchants. The WishPlus membership gives its customers $6 Wish cash every month that can be used to buy products and applied with different promotional codes that are currently active on the site.
5. Walmart+
Image credit: Walmart
Ships To: USA
Free Trial Amount: 15-day free trial
Best Feature: Free shipping on no minimum order.
Cost to Create Account: $12.95/month | $98/year
Walmart is one of the largest superstores in the USA for all your daily needs. The Walmart+ program offers customers free shipping with no minimum order, free delivery from your closest Walmart store, and savings on fuel at Walmart, Murphy’s, and Sam’s Fuel stations.
5 sites like Amazon Prime that offer a subscription box
Monthly or weekly subscription boxes are extremely popular in North America as you can get a personally curated box based on your preferences and needs. In the list below you will find different subscription boxes available that have groceries, beauty products, and home essentials.
1. Mighty Nest
Image credit: Mighty Nest
Ships To: USA
Free Trial Amount: None
Best Feature: All boxes are shipped free.
Cost to Create Account: $11/month | $99/year
Mighty Nest is a monthly subscription service that promotes a green and sustainable lifestyle. All products that go into the box are carefully curated to make sure that they are plastic free and non-toxic to help their customers make informed, mindful choices for a better and cleaner tomorrow. Customers can also shop on Mighty Nest without signing up for the subscription plan.
2. Grove Collaborative VIP Membership
Image credit: Grove Collaborative
Ships To: USA
Free Trial Amount: None
Best Feature: Get 4 full-sized gifts throughout the year.
Cost to Create Account: $19.99/box
Grove Collaborative is one of the most popular subscription boxes for natural cleaning, skincare, laundry, and other home goods that can be set to an auto-delivery schedule. Being a Certified B Corp, they also carbon offset every shipment by purchasing credits to fund projects that reduce pollution such as wind farms, solar installations, or energy efficiency retrofits. Customers can cancel their subscription at any point and purchase products on an as-needed basis and pay $4.99 for shipping, no matter how large their order is.
3. Petit Vour – Beauty Box
Image credit: Petit Vour
Ships To: Worldwide
Free Trial Amount: None
Best Feature: Get $4 store credit every month after reviewing your previous box.
Cost to Create Account: $18/month | $15/month (paid annually)
Petit Vour is a luxury curated vegan and cruelty free beauty box that ships worldwide. Customers can fill out a short survey about their requirements and lifestyle to get a personally curated box with four products that usually cost around $50.
4. Misfits Market
Image credit: Misfits Market
Ships To: USA
Free Trial Amount: None
Best Feature: 25% – 40% off grocery store prices.
Cost to Create Account: $22/box (Mischief) | $35/box (Madness)
Misfits Market is an online grocery subscription box that is designed to break the food waste cycle. They put together perfectly good, high-quality, organic produce that are discarded by grocery stores due to natural imperfections and variations in size. Since they are sourced directly from the farmers, they are able to beat grocery store price markups.
5. Thrive Market
Image credit: Thrive Market
Ships To: USA
Free Trial Amount: 30-day free trial
Best Feature: Free gifts and samples with every order.
Cost to Create Account: $9.95/month | $5/month (paid annually)
Thrive Market is a grocery subscription box that builds a custom box for you based on a short survey that describes your lifestyle and dietary preferences. Customers can shop from pre-designed boxes, such as a Wagyu beef steak box, a Whole30 Meat & Seafood box, or individual products based on their needs.
Why subscription-based shopping saves you so much money
Subscription boxes are worth buying because they provide exactly the portions that you need and help eliminate waste. With subscription boxes, you get a variety of products based on only what you need for the same cost that you had set aside for your weekly or monthly spending.
Subscription-based online stores should:
- Focus on solving an existing problem that customers may have.
- Add value to the customer’s buying experience for repeat purchases
- Find innovative ways to reduce waste in shipping and packaging
- Make eco-friendly choices while curating products
What makes a Prime membership alternative worth it?
An Amazon Prime membership costs $119 annually or $13 a month which amounts to $156/year. They have a special discount for students with a valid .edu address, giving them access to the subscription at $6/month or $56 for the year with a 6-month free trial. Being able to beat these rates is nearly impossible because of the scale at which Amazon operates.
As a conscious consumer, let us look at why we may want to shop from alternatives to Amazon Prime:
- Support small businesses.
- Get an option to shop from a wide variety of products that aren’t available on Amazon.
- Discover eco-friendly alternatives that can help you offset your carbon footprint.
- Buy only small quantities of things that you need to reduce waste.
- Allowing you to compare prices to find the best deal.
It is good to know that Amazon Prime is not the only subscription out there and that you have other options to choose from. Whether you are looking for eco-friendly or ethical alternatives to shop from, there is a wide variety of Amazon Prime competitors with and without subscription plans that we hope will help you discover more products to fit your needs.