Amazon has decided to raise the price of the monthly subscription in the UK by 12.5% from the month of September. The reason for the same is because of the hike in delivery costs,
The Prime services include unlimited deliveries while shopping online on Amazon, access to video and music streaming services on Amazon, and fresh grocery deliveries. 
The company stated that the annual subscription plan for the prime services would increase by 20%. However, for the monthly subscription plan, the hike is less.
The rise in fees will be implemented from 15 September. A spokesperson of Amazon said that for the prime services, there is an increase in the number of products available and the delivery will be faster. Apart from this, fresh groceries will be delivered faster. Digital services available such as TV, movies, music, games, and books have all been expanded.
Amazon Prime services started in 2014, and a lot of changes in its plan and services were made since then. Since the pandemic, there was a huge rise in Prime customers as consumers wanted quick services during the time of Covid-19. Retail shops were closed, and online services were the only option then.
As per reports, around half of the UK customers who are over the age of 16 have prime access now. The number sums up to 27 million people, which is huge.
According to market research by the firm Mintel, Prime membership is mostly used by young customers aged between 16-34. The Prime delivery services did see an increased usage during the pandemic, but the video streaming service had the fastest growth, with 62% of members using it since 2022.
For the Amazon Fresh Grocery delivery service, the percentage is 7%, as stated by Mintel. The handling of returned items plus the rise in delivery costs is the reason for the rise of Prime services.
