Amazon Prime UK price hike ‘likely’ – is your monthly subscription about to go up?
The online retail giant is raising prices for Americans, and experts tell The Sun that cash-strapped Brits will probably be forced to fork out more money too
AMAZON is jacking up the price of Prime membership in the US, and experts say that UK customers face a similar hike soon.
The company is increasing the monthly subscription cost from $10.99 (£7.90) to $12.99 (£9.34) – a sizeable 18 per cent jump.
That means US customers will now be forking out a hefty $156 per year, which is far more than the $132 they were previously paying.
It also means that the gap has widened between monthly and annual subscribers.
The fee for an annual membership in the US is staying at just $99 – now nearly $60 cheaper than paying per month.
Amazon told The Sun that this is a US-only price rise for now – and wouldn't comment on future plans – but experts say Brits are "likely" to suffer the same fate very soon.
Top industry watcher Daniel Ives, from GBH Insights, said: "We believe it is likely that the annual plan will stay unchanged but monthly will also go up in the UK."
The analyst told us he believes Amazon's decision is a "smart and strategic move" that will "drive monthly Prime members to yearly subscriptions".
According to Ives, Amazon will lose around 2 per cent of Prime subscribers as a result of the US price hike, but having more customers moving to the yearly subscription is a "golden goose" for the firm.
"Once on the annual plan, customers rarely churn."
Speaking to The Sun, GfK analyst Imran Choudhary agreed that Brits should brace for a jump in cost: "Chances are we will see a similar price rise in the UK."
Amazon hasn't released official membership figures for the UK, but Cowen & Co. estimates put the number of total subscribers at eight million nationwide.
"What happens in the home US market usually always makes its way over to the UK and other markets, so there's little doubt UK consumers could see a similar price rise in the months ahead."
"Consumers will never want to see price rises, but the simple fact of the matter is that price rises are inevitable at some stage."
Amazon Prime in the UK
What does a full Prime membership get you here?
If you pay the full £7.99 monthly fee or £79 annual subscription, you'll get access to the following perks:
- Unlimited One-Day Delivery
- Unlimited movies and TV shows
- Secure unlimited photo storage
- Early access to Lightning Deals
- On-demand, ad-free music streaming
"Amazon's monthly Prime membership gives access to video content, and this has to be funded somehow. As the desire to produce and provide more popular content intensifies, the costs for doing this will also inevitably increase."
Justifying the price rise, an Amazon spokesperson said: "Prime provides an unparalleled combination of shipping, shopping and entertainment benefits, and we continue to invest in making Prime even more valuable for our members."
"The number of items eligible for unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping increased in recent years from 20 million to more than 100 million items."
"We have expanded Prime Free Same-Day and Prime Free One-Day delivery to more than 8,000 cities and towns."
"We also continue to introduce new, popular and award-winning Prime Originals."
"Members also enjoy a growing list of unique benefits like Prime Music, Prime Reading, exclusive products and much more."
subscribers in the UK pay £7.99 for the full subscription, or £5.99 for the video service alone.
But if you're willing to splash on an annual subscription, you'll pay just £79 per year – or the equivalent of £6.58 per month.
If Amazon was to match its 18 per cent price rise in the UK, it would see customers paying nearly £9.50 every month for Prime.
Over the course of a year, customers would end up paying around £113, which is roughly £34 more than the standalone annual fee.
Amazon hasn't confirmed a UK price rise however, so don't panic just yet.