Amazon has decided to increase prices for its Prime membership in Europe by as much as 43%, according to Reuters (Yahoo Finance!). The e-commerce giant said that it has to raise prices because of inflation and operating costs. The price increase in Europe will not be uniform, so depending on where you are will determine how much prices rise by.
Amazon’s second and third-largest markets are Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively. Prime membership will increase in Germany by 30% to €89.90 and by 20% in the UK to £95. In Spain, Italy, and France, increases will be more steep, ranging from 39% to 43%. The new prices will come in on September 15 and will be applied whenever a new customer signs up or when an existing member renews.
It’s too early to say what will happen for certain, but many people in Europe will have already started cutting back on services like Amazon Prime and Amazon Prime Video so that their money can be spent on essentials. With autumn and winter fast approaching, people’s bills will be rising a lot and Prime, especially with these new price rises, could be axed from people’s budgets.
The European price rises follow on from similar rises announced by Amazon US back in February. The company upped the annual membership fee from $119 to $139 and monthly subscriptions rose from $12.99 to $14.99. The new prices there came into effect for new customers on February 18 and for those renewing, the new prices came in on March 25.