Amazon, which had increased the prices of its Prime subscription in the United States at the beginning of the year, will do the same from September 15 in France, Germany, England, Spain and Italy, the group announced. in France to AFP on Tuesday. Belgian customers with a Prime account will also suffer this increase, since they must go through the sites amazon.fr, amazon.nl or amazon.de (German version) to place an order with the e-mail giant. trade, the latter not having an amazon.be site. Internet users in Belgium also received an email last night to warn them of the increase in the price of their subscription. “As of September 15, 2022, the price of the monthly Prime subscription will increase from 5.99 euros to 6.99 euros and the price of the annual Prime subscription will increase from 49 euros to 69.90 euros”, can we read in the email sent on Tuesday.
The same is true in France where prices will also increase from 5.99 to 6.99 euros per month and from 49 to 69.90 euros per year. In the United Kingdom, from 7.99 pounds to 8.99 (about 10.6 euros) and from 79 to 95 pounds (about 112 euros). In Germany, from 7.99 to 8.99 euros and from 69 to 89.9 euros. In Spain and Italy, from 3.99 to 4.99 euros per month and from 36 to 49.90 euros per year.
Subscribers must be notified since Tuesday 1 a.m., according to an Amazon France spokesperson with AFP.
The group claims to have to face an “increase in shipping costs”, in particular with the rise in the prices of fuel, energy or even “packaging costs”.
Amazon France also explains that it has “greatly expanded the service since its launch in 2008”, referring in particular to the number of products eligible for fast delivery or the ultra-fast food shopping service in partnership with Monoprix, offered in around ten cities in France.
Amazon does not communicate on the number of its subscribers by country and merely indicates that it has “more than 200 million” Prime members worldwide. The American giant announced in February to increase the price of Prime in the United States, a precedent which allows it to be confident in the face of a risk of unsubscriptions in a context of strong consumer concerns about their purchasing power.
“From what we have seen in the United States, there has been no opt-out phenomenon (disengagement, editor’s note) because we are providing more and more services via Prime and this service nevertheless allows consumers to make extremely significant savings”the same source told AFP.
At the beginning of July, the group simplified the procedure for unsubscribing from “Prime”, “following a dialogue with the European Commission and the national consumer protection authorities”, Brussels had indicated at the beginning of the month. An approach that followed a complaint from several consumer associations.