For the first time since launching nine years ago, Amazon Prime will hike its prices.
The subscription service will charge customers $99 per year to renew, as opposed to $79. Amazon student member rates will increase $10, to $49. Membership fees will remain $299.
Prime offers users free two-day shipping, streaming access to 40,000 movies and television shows and Kindle downloads. During a January earnings call, Amazon brass hinted that a price hike was coming, citing rising transportation costs.
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Despite the fee increase, Business Insider makes a compelling case that the service is a relative bargain compared to Spotify or Netflix. It offers a multiplicity of benefits and breaks down to a fee of just over $8.00 a month.
Amazon’s stock has been hit hard in recent months, as investors have become dissatisfied with its paltry margins. The company’s strategy has been to focus on increasing market share, even at the cost of profitability. Wall Street seemed to favor the price hike, however. Amazon’s stock rose more than 2 percent to $378.10 in pre-market trading.