Amazon has increased its annual subscription fee of its Prime membership for the first time in nine years from £49 to £79.
The 60 per cent price hike, which begins next week, gives consumers access to over 15,000 film and TV episodes from Amazon Prime Instant Video and Lovefilm Instant which Amazon bought three years ago.
The retailer has seen its home delivery costs surge by almost 30 per cent to $6.6bn as sales continue to grow. Analysts say the financial burden of home delivery services will become difficult for retailers to cope with “heavy casualties” possible.
Natalie Berg, Global Research Director at Planet Retail commented: “Amazon is already deeply embedded with its shoppers, but they will have to justify this price hike by providing additional value to customers. One way of doing this is by forging relationships with established retail brands that are currently unavailable through Amazon.”
