Amazon hikes annual Prime by $20: When should you expect the increase?
As the price of virtually everything rises with inflation, Amazon is following suit. Effective February 18, 2022, new customers will pay $139 annually instead of $119. Current subscribers who renew after March 25, 2022 will also experience the rate hike.
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The Prime monthly subscription, meanwhile, jumps even more: from $12.99 to $14.99.
In light of the announcement, stock prices rose 15.6% after hours, following a close where the stock dropped 7.81% for the day.
Prime membership includes access to the Amazon Prime video streaming service, offers fast, free one-day or two-day shipping to members and a host of other benefits. For the ecommerce retailer, it helps build customer loyalty. One survey of U.S. shoppers by Bank of America found that Prime members spend four times as much as non-Prime shoppers on Amazon. Prime subscribers also tend to search for products on Amazon before other sites twice as often as non-subscribers.
Find: 8 numbers you need to know about inflation
In 2020 and 2021, Amazon signed up 60 million members, which means there are now 172 million Prime members in the U.S. If you were curious, there are 329.5 million residents in the U.S. as of the 2020 census, which means more than half the U.S. subscribes to Amazon Prime.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Amazon raises annual Prime fee by $20 — when should you expect the price increase?
As the price of virtually everything rises with inflation, Amazon is following suit. Effective February 18, 2022, new customers will pay $139 annually instead of $119. Current subscribers who renew after March 25, 2022 will also experience the rate hike.