Amazon is to raise the price of its Prime service for UK customers due to higher operating costs.From September, monthly subscriptions will go up £1 to £8.99 and annual membership will rise from £79 to £95.Amazon said the price rise, its first in the UK since 2014, was partly due to inflation, which is at a 40-year high.Other services such as Netflix have also increased subscription prices, despite signs people are beginning to cut back on streaming services.
However, Amazon Prime offers more than just its streaming service. Prime also offer unlimited deliveries of products.Amazon price matches Tesco in grocery customer warAmazon targets 10,000 fake review Facebook groupsAmazon to create 4,000 new UK jobsAmazon said the new pricing would begin from September, or at the customer’s next membership renewal date, adding that switching to an annual plan or cancellation of membership was also an option.The move comes at a time when many households are looking to cut back on spending, with prices of goods rising at the fastest pace for 40 years.A BBC-commissioned survey found people struggling with soaring energy bills and fuel prices were cutting back on food and car journeys to save money.
More than half (56%) the 4,011 people asked had bought fewer groceries, and the same proportion had skipped meals.Recent research has suggested that more people are cancelling video streaming subscriptions, such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime, due to the rising cost of living.A total of 1.66 million services were dropped in the second quarter of 2022, market research firm Kantar said, with the under-24s age group most likely to cancel.More than a third of cancellations were attributed to cutting costs, with the primary reason as “wanting to save money”.High competition in the streaming industry has led to competitive pricing and offers for customers.But Netflix increased the price of its plans in 2021 and 2022. It recently announced it had lost almost a million subscribers between April and July, and it has now lost members for two quarters in a row.
Amazon said it had invested billions of pounds in content in recent years, with original series such as The Terminal List, as well as Clarkson’s Farm.It has also moved into sports broadcasting, after successfully bidding for the rights to screen Tuesday night Champions League football matches from 2024.Amazon already has the exclusive rights to 20 Premier League matches a season, including the entire round of matches on and around Boxing Day each year. And it has a five-year deal to exclusively broadcast the US Open tennis tournament in the UK.
