“Amazon raised the monthly rate for its Prime service by 18% on Friday, from $10.99 to $12.99. The annual Prime membership stays at $99,” Elizabeth Weise reports for USA Today.
“Amazon Video comes included in both the annual and monthly membership. The a la carte price for those who are not Prime members will remain the same, at $8.99 per month,” Weise reports. “The most recent Prime subscription hike came in 2014 when the yearly membership went from $79 to $99.”
“Forrester analyst Brendan Witcher said “when compared to similar offerings in the market, the $10.99 monthly Prime offering was priced too low.” Cobbling together a similar offering including delivery and free Cloud storage would cost far more, he said,” Weise reports. “Not raising the price for annual subscribers is more about creating loyalty, he said. ‘Leaving the annual rate as is fits with their strategy to encourage customers to see Amazon as a brand that will be part of their regular lives, rather than a monthly purchasing consideration.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Nice to see the annual rate holding steady, especially since that’s our Prime membership, too. How about you? Are you an Amazon Prime member? If so, are you paying monthly or annually? If monthly, will this price increase affect you to change to annual or drop your Prime membership altogether?