Amazon launches portal for users getting government assistance

On Monday, Amazon launched a new portal for shopping named Amazon Access, targeted at customers receiving government assistance.

The storefront provides information about the Amazon Layaway program, which all customers can use for paying for their orders in installments. It provides discounts and coupons for any buyer on basic food products.

Amazon already offers some services for customers with low incomes, such as Amazon Prime memberships at a discount. It also participates in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or benefits for products purchased through Amazon Grocery, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods. The company said that the new portal is aimed at being a center that combines all of these individual benefits in one place.

Nancy Dalton, head of partnerships at Amazon Access, said that now is a difficult economic situation and many people have to pay more for meeting basic needs, so the company wants its customers to be familiar with all the available offerings on Amazon, regardless of circumstances.

Also, there was an announcement by Amazon that discounted Prime membership was renamed into Prime Access. Customers who meet the requirements can sign up for the service on Amazon Access.

Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director of GlobalData Retail, said that the new portal could be useful for low-income consumers.

Saunders said that Amazon helps consumers in need during a difficult economic time. He added that Amazon should have resources to generate some additional sales by consolidating benefits in the new storefront.

On the other hand, he doesn't think that Amazon Access will help to increase the number of Prime members significantly.

Saunders also said that Prime is close to saturation in the U.S., but Amazon looks at this as an opportunity to increase it, although there are still many consumers without access to the program, with low incomes.

Earlier this year, Amazon announced that the price of its annual Prime subscription would rise from $119 to $139 a year in the U.S., and its monthly subscription would also rise from $12.99 to $14.99.

The company claimed that it increased the price because of the expanded benefits for Prime membership, such as added Prime Video content and expanded free same-day delivery, and to compensate for the rising labor and transportation costs in its distribution network.