Amazon is now offering customers its Amazon Prime membership as a gift for friends, family, and other acquaintances, the companyannounced today.

The move makes sense since the official start of the holiday shopping season is just a week away. It also might make for a good substitute for the impersonal gift card purchase, even if it’s just a wee bit more than the average gift card purchase at $79 per year.

The Amazon Prime memberships offer people “free” two-day shipping on most items sold through the retail giant. The service is attractive to customers because those shipping fees aren’t factored into individual purchases. Prime members also gain access to a free library of on-demand streaming video content, including a slew of new originally produced shows from Amazon Studios.

And if you’ve every been curious as to why Prime memberships matter, then wonder no more: It comes down to boosting revenue. The basic idea is that if you have a Prime account, you’ll end up spending more money through Amazonthan if you were just a regular customer. (Evidently it works quite well, and I can at least vouch for myself and other family members).