Amazon Hikes Price of Prime Membership Monthly Plan by 18%
Amazon has raised the price of the Prime free-shipping program monthly plan — which includes unlimited access to Prime Video titles — from $10.99 to $12.99 per month, an 18% increase.
However, the annual plan for Prime in the U.S. remains $99 per year, which Amazon last raised in 2014. In addition, Amazon offers a standalone Prime Video subscription option, which is unchanged at $8.99 per month.
The move seems designed to encourage customers to opt for the yearly Prime plan, rather than paying for the month-to-month installment, because that would effectively reduce churn. For new customers who sign up for the Prime monthly plan, the price change is effective Friday. For existing customers, the $12.99 monthly fee kicks in after Feb. 18.
Amazon has never disclosed how many Prime customers it has, although it boasted of signing up 4 million new members over a one-week period in December 2017. As of September 2017, Amazon Prime had about 90 million U.S. members (up 38% from a year earlier), according to estimates by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
Amazon’s Prime monthly pricing change was first reported by Recode.
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