Amazon Prime UK price rise ‘likely’ for Brits – new warning over 20% hike for your yearly subscription
AMAZON has jacked up the price of its Prime membership in the US – and Brits are expected to endure a similar hike soon.
An industry expert has told The Sun how Amazon is "likely" to increase the yearly cost of an Amazon Prime subscription right here in the UK.
Last night, Amazon announced that it would be bumping the annual cost of Amazon Prime by around 20 per cent.
That means Americans will have to fork out $119, rather than the old $99 charge.
Here in the UK, Brits pay £79 a year to get Amazon Prime – giving them access to unlimited one-day delivery, access to Amazon Video and Prime Music, free Kindle e-book loans, and even free video games.
But the £79 figure is equal to $110 at current exchange rates, which is lower than Amazon's new US price.
Speaking to The Sun, industry watcher Daniel Ives said: "We believe a similar price increase can come to the UK."
He said we're "likely" to see the possible rise in "late summer", which could mean August or September.
The GBH Insights analyst said Amazon can get away with the hike thanks to its "very strong pricing power, with its 100million Prime members".
If Amazon matched the $119 fee here in the UK, that would mean Brits could pay out £86 a year – a £7 bump.
Alternatively, Amazon could match the 20 per cent rise, raising the subscription price from £79 to £95 – a £16 rise.
The rise – which is the first increase to the annual bill in four years – will cause "minimal disruption" to Amazon's immense cashflow, Daniel explained.
"The company is firing on all cylinders as we saw with last night's earnings," the tech industry expert told us.
Last night Amazon revealed that its revenue was up 43 per cent year-on-year, and reported a profit of $1.6billion.
And the UK is a big part of that – it's believed Amazon has around 8million Prime members in Britain.
However, Amazon is being cagey about whether it's set to hit those loyal Brit customers with a bigger yearly bill.
An Amazon rep told The Sun that the price rise "US announcement only", but declined to say whether a UK hike was on the cards.
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It's worth noting that Amazon's US price rise only affects annual payments, and not the monthly bill option.
Amazon increased the cost of monthly bills by around 24 per cent back in January.
The new US price rise is set to come into effect on May 11 this year.
Do you think Amazon should charge more for its Prime service in the UK? Let us know in the comments!
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