Amazon.com Inc has said that it will be increasing the cost of its Prime subscription in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy due to inflation and associated operating costs. The annual price of the free-shipping service will increase to £95 (US$114.06) from £79 in the UK starting from September 15th. While, Amazon’s annual Prime subscriptions will jump from 69 euros (US$70.121) to 89.90 euros in Germany, from 49 euros to 69.90 euros in France, and from 36 euros to 49.90 euros in Spain and Italy, the company said on Tuesday, July 26th. Prices will jump by 31% on average across the affected European countries and follows similar hikes in the US announced in February.
In April, Amazon told investors that a pandemic-fueled hiring and warehouse-building binge was catching up to it as e-commerce sales growth inevitably slowed from the torrid pace of the coronavirus outbreak. Fuel and labour costs were already biting, and soaring inflation has only continued since.
“From what we have seen in the United States, there has been no opt-out phenomenon because more and more services are being provided via Prime, and this service still allows consumers to make extremely significant savings,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
