New subscribers will now onwards pay $119 instead of $99, effective from May 11.
E-commerce site Amazon is increasing the price of its annual Prime membership, which gives its customers many benefits such as next-day delivery, music streaming and on-demand video service, etc. However, Indian subscribers need not worry as the renewed plan is for the US. It is for the first time in four years that the company has announced a price hike.
The Chief Financial Officer announced that new subscribers will now onwards pay $119 instead of $99, effective from May 11. Last time, when Amazon raised its charges was in 2014, when the Prime fee was $79. ''The value of Prime to customers has never been greater. And the cost is also high, as we pointed out especially with shipping options and digital benefits, we continue to see rises in costs,'' the CFO said, reported express.co.uk.
Last week, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in a surprising announcement said that Prime has over 100 million members worldwide. So far, the company never revealed the numbers of Prime members. Prime service, which gives multiple benefits to its customers including free two-day shipping is now being expensive for Amazon. Amazon also invested hugely in acquiring and creating a library of movies and TV shows, that are available free of cost to its Prime members. It has been noted that Prime members purchase more products than non-Prime members.
On a related note, Amazon has also introduced Prime Now which offers speedy delivery of some popular merchandise and groceries in 10 US metro areas.
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