Ruth Tinsley made two major changes to her life in the past year. In December, she had identical twin girls. A few weeks later, she signed up for Amazon.com‘s shipping service, Amazon Prime, which guarantees delivery of products within two days for an annual fee of $79.
The two events combined turned the graphic designer from Birmingham, Ala., into an Amazon loyalist who buys software, jewelry and birthday gifts on the site. Her total heading into the holidays this year: 150 items, up from 82 in 2009.
“Now, if I see....