E-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) on Tuesday rattled the cages of Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG), Kroger Co (NYSE:KR), Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) and even Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) by announcing it was lowering the price on Prime memberships for people who were on some sort of government-based financial support.

Specifically, Amazon will offer Prime — and all the full benefits thereof — for only $5.99 per month rather than the typical cost of $10.99 per month to these consumers, lending a helping hand to those who arguably need it the most.

It was a maneuver cheered by anyone who doesn’t have to compete with the website, though it did leave some owners of AMZN stock wondering what the fiscal upside may really be.

Whether it’s directly or indirectly, quite a bit.

AMZN Opens a New Door

The official statement from the company read:

“We know when people try Prime they love it, because they save time and money with low prices on millions of items, unlimited access to premium videos and music, and fast, convenient delivery. We designed this membership option for customers receiving government assistance to make our everyday selection and savings more accessible, including the many conveniences and entertainment benefits of Prime.”

It’s a bit of a departure from the previous (apparent) mindset for Prime, in that 70% of Prime memberships come from households that earn an excess of $112,000 per year. The discounted subscription rate targets households with less than $15,444 in annual income.

That implied lack of spending power seemingly poses a threat to Prime’s compelling statistics. For instance, the average Prime member spends about $1,300 per year at Amazon.com, while the average non-member only makes roughly $700 worth of purchases per year.

Given AMZN’s persistently paper-thin margins (and knowing that its Prime subscription revenue may be the only reason Amazon manages to turn any profit at all) adding consumers that almost certainly won’t contribute as much revenue to the mix as the members at the other end of the spectrum does leaves some owners of AMZN stock wondering if this is a step in the wrong direction.

There’s a method to the madness though … a couple of methods, actually.

First and foremost, the initiative more or less coincides with a pilot program Amazon first rolled out early this year that allows consumers enrolled in the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program — you know it better as ‘food stamps’ — to spend that funding on food at Amazon.com.

Like any grocery supplier, sometimes AMZN offers the best price, and sometimes not. Presumably those participating SNAP users see enough price benefit to at least make some purchases of dry goods online. Throw in the fact that free shipping costs less than the cost of gasoline to drive to the grocery store, and Amazon.com is a pretty good draw for this sliver of the consumer market.

Here’s the part that will excite Amazon stock owners: While they may not be individually affluent, these SNAP users collectively spend $13 billion a year at Walmart alone. Nationwide, the SNAP program provides about $70 billion worth of annual funding for the purchase of food, split among the likes of the aforementioned Dollar General and Kroger.

That’s a fairly big piece of pie, even if not wildly profitable one. Inasmuch as Amazon already has the needed infrastructure in place (video content agreements, warehouses, delivery jets, etc.), the added operational costs for bringing these people into the fold is negligible.

That being said, there’s another big-time win in Amazon’s initiative. That is, this is great publicity for a company that could use some.

While Amazon has been fun to watch grow over the past two decades, one nagging problem that has yet to go away is the market’s perception of how it treats its employees. Stories like this one, this one and this one are unfortunately not unusual. If the company can come across like one with a heart, it can only help.

Bottom Line for Amazon Stock

The potential impact on Amazon stock is an all-too-familiar one. That is, this could prove significant for top-line growth, but not necessarily so for the bottom-line’s growth. Retail margins have always been almost nil for the company, and adding subsidized Prime memberships to the mix to sell more food goods (packaged foods boast narrow margins) won’t help on that front.

But it doesn’t matter. When all is said and done, even at only $5.99 per month the program adds some incremental revenue and profits, and opens the door to another $70 billion market and the corresponding incremental increase in potential income … and it costs next to nothing to do it.

So, why not do it?

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.