Amazon Prime has become many people’s go-to for getting almost anything delivered the next day.
Whether you’re looking for food, fashion or flowers, you can get just about anything delivered straight to your door within 24 hours.
However this prompt delivery comes at a price, and Amazon Prime’s customers currently pay a yearly fee of £79 to have things shipped so quickly.
At the current price, users also get a range of extra perks, including Prime Video, Amazon Music, and same-day groceries delivered in many urban areas via Amazon Fresh and Morrisons.
They also get free deliveries on most items and Unlimited One-Day Delivery, Same-Day Delivery, and 2-Hour Delivery as standard.
With more people than ever signing up for Amazon Prime, the company saw record sales of £23.6bn here in the UK in the last year.
But experts from ParcelHero say this won’t be enough to stop them hiking their Prime prices up this year.
With fuel and energy costs rising, ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T. reckons we can expect the cost of Amazon Prime to rise too in order to cover fuel for deliveries.
American customers have already seen their subscription fees go up by 17%, meaning they’re now paying $139 (£103) rather than the $119 (£88) they were paying last year.
If the UK follows suit, a 17% rise could mean fees go from £79 to £92.
Experts think the company will potentially opt for either a 12.5% increase, or a massive 25% increase, to either £89 or £99.
This is thanks to the psychology Amazon employs when it comes to numbers, as they reckon numbers ending in a nine tend to be more appealing.
An Amazon UK spokesperson told ParcelHero that “The price change only applies to the US. We keep this under constant review, but have nothing to announce at this time.”
Despite no definitive changes, it seems likely that Amazon UK may follow suit and hike up it’s membership prices as fuel costs continue to rise.
With 15 million current subscribers in the UK, it’s recommended that if you had been considering signing up to Amazon Prime, you’re better off doing it sooner rather than later to avoid the possible price increase.
