Amazon Prime subscribers are likely not too happy about having to pay an extra $20 when the time to renew their subscriptions rolls around for this year, but a survey conducted by Yahoo Finance found that a full 45-percent of respondents are so displeased about it that they plan to drop the service entirely. The survey was taken among close to 7,000 Amazon Prime subscribers. While most of the survey group aid that they plan to part ways with Amazon over the price hike, 35-percent were resolute to stay. Finally, 20-percent of respondents had not yet decided whether they were going to keep Prime or get rid of it.
Many of those who were willing to pay the higher prices in order to stay on Prime cited the same main reasons for their decision, which boiled down to fast, free delivery for their Amazon orders. Among those who had decided to end their Amazon Prime subscriptions, most respondents cited an unwillingness to pay more than they were before without that difference being justified by additional content and features across Amazon’s product lineup. Yahoo Finance did not include any information on what may have been said among those who could not decide whether they were keeping their Amazon Prime subscriptions going.
Many of the customers who are quitting are citing a lack of increase in value to match the new price, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Amazon does not have plans for that extra money. Amazon Studios, for example, has a new president who’s looking to bring big names like Dick Wolf and Jordan Peele on board as creative producers. The increase brings the annual price of an Amazon Prime membership up from $99 to $119, and is effective for all new and renewing subscriptions going forward. Those who have already paid up for this year won’t have to pay the difference, but whenever they renew, they will be paying the new, higher rate. This price hike has been in the works for a while now, but the timing for it to take effect makes it easier for it to be called into question; the company recently announced that it had passed 100 million Prime subscribers, and posted a great first quarter, with shares sitting around $1,600 each.