Amazon Prime has landed in SA at R59 a month, here is my honest take

Technology in SA
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So Amazon finally flipped the switch on Prime here in South Africa as of today, and on paper it looks like genuinely good value. I went digging into what you actually get, so here is the rundown with the good and the not so good.

The price

It is R59 a month, or R399 for the year if you pay upfront, which works out to a 44 percent saving over the monthly option. There is also a 30 day free trial to test the waters. The part that made me do a double take is that this is cheaper than standalone Prime Video, which sits at R79 a month, and Prime bundles in a whole lot more than just the streaming.

What you get (the pros)

  • Unlimited same day delivery on orders placed before midday, with no minimum spend, in Cape Town, Joburg and Pretoria.
  • Unlimited next day delivery in the major cities, again no minimum spend.
  • Prime Video streaming included, Amazon originals plus licensed international shows and films.
  • Amazon Luna cloud gaming, with titles like Hogwarts Legacy, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Fortnite, plus free PC games every month and one free Twitch channel subscription monthly.
  • Access to Prime Day, running 23 to 29 June this year, along with member only discounts and early access during Black Friday.

Where it falls short (the cons)

  • The delivery perks, which are the real drawcard, are tied to the big metros for now. If you are in a smaller town or rural area, the same day and next day promise does not really apply to you yet.
  • There is already a wrinkle with Luna. Some games listed as included on the Standard tier reportedly prompt you to upgrade to Luna Premium at about 10 US dollars, so “included” comes with an asterisk.
  • Prime Day sounds great, but we have not seen how deep the SA discounts actually go. It could be brilliant, or it could be a bit of a damp squib. Worth waiting to judge.
  • It is not the absolute cheapest shopping subscription going. Takealot More Standard is R39 a month, though it is more limited on the delivery side.
  • The midday cutoff and the eligible products only fine print mean the same day magic will not cover every order.

My verdict

For anyone in Cape Town, Joburg or Pretoria who already shops on Amazon.co.za or watches Prime Video, R399 for the year is hard to argue with. The streaming alone almost justifies it. If you are outside the metros, the maths is weaker until the delivery network spreads. I would grab the free trial, see how the deliveries hold up in your area, and decide from there.

Anyone signed up yet? Keen to hear how the first deliveries land.

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Doesn’t Prime Video alone make it too good to be true if this is the same as the R59 pm and an alternative to Netflix for R99 depending on what you watch. Am I missing a catch somewhere?

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Fair question, Nebula. The catch is the video catalogue here is thinner than Netflix for now, so it is not a like for like swap on shows. The R59 is really Amazon buying market share, they want you shopping and gaming on Luna, not just streaming. I’d bet the price creeps up once they have the numbers. Good value today, just go in knowing it is a foot in the door play.

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I would just use it for streaming and the Amazon freebies will be a bonus. As a month to month I can cancel if it becomes just a marketing ploy. Prime + other streaming sources (see Reddit) campares well with Netflix based on my very selective viewing habits

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R59 is less than what most people spend on airtime in a week, so I am not going to pretend that is not a good deal. My concern is that same-day delivery only works if you are in Cape Town, Joburg or Pretoria, which means most of the country is paying for a membership built around cities. Still, for the streaming alone it beats Netflix on price, and the cloud gaming is something I did not expect at that price point.

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