Digicel plans to reward 4000 Subscribers with US$5 Amazon Gift Cards on Monday January 27th 2014 - How Digicel is jump-starting E-Commerce in partnership with Amazon PrimeAir

“We’re always looking for ways to give back to our valued online family – this includes Double Bubbles on offer every day and Triple Bubbles available most weekends. This Monday however, we are going one step further and, starting at 8:00 am, each of the first 4,000 customers who top up online will receive a US$5 Amazon.com gift card. It’s our way of saying thanks, we appreciate your business

Digicel Diaspora CEO, Stephen Bannon, on Digicel' Decision to give US$5 Amazon Gift Cards to some 4000 Subscribers across Latina America and the Caribbean on Monday January 31st 2014

In what I’ve dubbed as the weirdest Promotion by any Telecom Provider thus far, Digicel has announced on Friday January 24^th 2014 that they have decided to reward 4000 of its Caribbean and Latin American subscribers who purchase Call Credit on Digicel Jamaica with a US$5 Amazon Gift Card as of Monday January 27^th 2014 as stated in the article “Digicel to 'reward' thousands of lucky customers”, published Friday, January 24, 2014 4:14 PM, The Jamaica Observer. 

In case you’re wondering what an Amazon Gift Card is, just hop over to Amazon and do a quick search for “Amazon Gift Cards” or just simple Google it. It’s basically the equivalent of Call Credit but usable only for online shopping on Amazon as described in my blog article entitled “How to purchase items and subscribe to Magazines online and ship them to Jamaica”; you can buy one for someone who doesn’t know what they want to buy or is difficult to buy acceptable gifts. 

The customer can receive the redeemable Gift Card either via email or via their Amazon Accounts, but despite their name, they’re anything but physical Cards, unless you choose to print them. Thus why Telecom Provider Digicel choose to give away US$20000 just to gift a set of subscribers in the Caribbean and Latin America US$5 Amazon Gift Card which can probably only buy a few US$1 songs for you Amazon Cloud Player remains a mystery.

Still, this is an interesting, albeit off-beat Promo pre-YVA (Youth View Awards) and synchs up with their Supa DigiDealz Promotion as noted in my blog article entitled “Digicel's Supa DigiDealz gives you a DL600 or DL700 free on a Smart Postpaid Plan - YVA 2013 to feature Zendaya as Digicel are the Big Bad Wolves in the Smartphone Wars”. This as the activity on Digicel YouTube Channel has been mostly dedicate to the YVA’s.

Amazon Possibly to Launch in Jamaica and the Caribbean – E-Commerce by Proxy

Possibly Telecom Provider Digicel noticed that a lot of subscribers visiting their website also visited Amazon. Thus they’ve decided to partner with Amazon to facilitate Amazon’s entry into the Caribbean and Latin America.  Possibly too, Telecom Provider Digicel has some E-Commerce Plans in the future involving Amazon.

It may even be the occasion to launch a hosted App Store for their branded smartphones or handling Voucher Credit purchases or even smartphones via Amazon’s website as opined in as opined in my blog article entitled “Digicel's lack of enthusiasm in promoting the DL600 smartphone - How making Apps from their Text Messaging Promotions and helping Jamaicans to design Apps Bridges the Digital Divide”

Even more interesting, possibly Amazon, in coming to Jamaica, may reach out to local MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs) with the chance to host their products and services on Amazon once they sign up with Telecom Provider Digicel for a Postpaid smartphone or Tablet.

Even more possible, is that Amazon may be partnering with Telecom Provider Digicel to launch Amazon PrimeAir in Jamaica to test out Drone Delivery as noted in my blog article entitled “Amazon plans to launch Amazon PrimeAir, their 30 minute Drone Package Delivery Service for Amazon Prime users - Playing Catch-up as Mailpak launches DealBug in Jamaica”. 

Our JCAA (Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority) has no qualms about Drones in Jamaican airspace as the Americans do. This may even be a move to pre-empt Fed-Ex or even UPS for making inroads into other countries in the Caribbean and Latin America where laws are lax as it relates to Drones as stated in my blog article entitled “UPS and FedEx developing their Own Delivery Drones to compete with Amazon PrimeAir - Premium Rush Package Delivery Drones herald the coming of Google's Personal Androids that are Almost Human”.

Even more interesting, possibly Amazon, in coming to Jamaica, may reach out to local MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs) with the chance to host their products and services on Amazon once they sign up with Telecom Provider Digicel for a Postpaid smartphone or Tablet.

Even more possible, is that Amazon may be partnering with Telecom Provider Digicel to launch Amazon PrimeAir in Jamaica to test out Drone Delivery as noted in my blog article entitled “Amazon plans to launch Amazon PrimeAir, their 30 minute Drone Package Delivery Service for Amazon Prime users - Playing Catch-up as Mailpak launches DealBug in Jamaica”. 

Our JCAA (Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority) has no qualms about Drones in Jamaican airspace as the Americans do. This may even be a move to pre-empt Fed-Ex or even UPS for making inroads into other countries in the Caribbean and Latin America where laws are lax as it relates to Drones as stated in my blog article entitled “UPS and FedEx developing their Own Delivery Drones to compete with Amazon PrimeAir - Premium Rush Package Delivery Drones herald the coming of Google's Personal Androids that are Almost Human”.

I say this as the timing of the tie-up for this Promotion is awfully close to another one by Aeropost, the Delivery partner with Mailpak, to roll out Amazon-styled Lockers throught the Caribbean as described in my blog article entitled “Aeropost to spend JA$150 million introducing Delivery Lockers - Drones are the Missing Variable in the Delivery Equation with advantages superior to Lockers”.

Thus Amazon may be taking this as an indication that the Caribbean is developing an appetite for using Courier Services to shop on Amazon as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to ship things to Jamaica after you’re purchase them online”.

For that reason, an expansion into the Caribbean and Latin America via a promotion with a popular Telecom Provider that provides Broadband Internet would be a foot in the door of a lucrative and growing business of Online Shopping. Especially as it may be driven by low-cost Tablets coming from this region as predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Tablets to drive e-commerce this Christmas 2013 in the USA and Jamaica”, a long-range prediction of mine extending from Christmas 2013!

One thing is for certain though; whoever the lucky 4000 are will have to activate an Amazon Account in order to take advantage of this offer. And if I’m reading the tea-leaves right, this may be the perfect setup for E-Commerce, both in terms of buying items online by loyal Amazon Customer and selling on Amazon’s website by MSME’s in Jamaica.

Stay tuned to my blog for any possible announcements come Monday January 25^th 2014!