Let’s face it, Amazon! This has to get better, otherwise Prime is history for me

Amazon will raise prices for Prime in a few weeks. Like many customers, I therefore think about whether the subscription is still worthwhile at all. But Amazon has to offer something for that – simply delivering is no longer enough.

A comment by Felix Gräber

Amazon wants to see more money from its Prime customers from September 15th. The monthly price increases by 1 euro – which is tolerable – but the annual subscription is almost 21 euros more expensive. Thats nice a handsome difference which you have to justify on the part of Amazon. Because the original Prime offer becomes a much worse deal than before.

Prime costs too much! Amazon must act

We have already calculated in a separate article for whom Prime is still worthwhile despite rising costs. Conclusion: If you only use the cheap delivery, you should no longer pay a Prime subscription, there are better options. So far I have appreciated Prime because of the streaming offer. The problem that is now revealed: I will soon have to dig deeper into my pocket for this too – with all the other increases in everyday life, this needs to be carefully considered.

In any case, nothing will change in the Prime Video offer or other components of Prime membership for the time being. It just gets more expensive. Amazon should urgently reconsider this step.

I recently wrote that Prime customers get the best streaming deal. Because at a price comparable to that of Disney+ or Netflix, you get even more from Amazon. Amazon Music, for example, is included, and customers can use Prime Gaming and Prime Reading or even have delivery at no extra charge. But am I using any of this? So far not really, the interest in the satellite offers within Prime is limited.

Amazon definitely has the right tool to make a price increase palatable to customers. The subscription does not necessarily have to be cheap, it should only be inexpensive in the original sense – worth its price. Customers often have an almost unerring sense of when this limit has been exceeded. Amazon is getting dangerously close to it.

Prime has to offer better bang for the buck or I’m gone

In order to counteract the cost increases, the offer would have to be beautified. For example, in which one not only extremely slimmed-down versions of the other Amazon services are integrated with Prime. Prime Music gives customers access to more than 2 million songs and podcasts. Sounds like a lot, but the full version has 90 million songs. Also, you can never be sure that the songs and albums you love listening to today will be included tomorrow.

It works in a very similar way with Prime Reading or Gaming – everywhere there are only trial offers that Prime customers can use. Of course it is utopian to expect that Amazon simply tears down all borders here and Prime subscribers have everything they need. But raising the limits would be one way to counter the higher price with more performance.

Maybe Prime Video is just not the right choice for you – here are the alternatives in comparison:

Amazon urgently needs to improve Prime Video

You could also proceed like this with the core of Prime: Miss Prime Video larger libraries or integrate more titles for a longer period of time. Or Amazon could have one Expand existing additional offer: the channels at Prime Video. Here you can – for a surcharge – expand your streaming offer. Similar to classic pay TV, you select channels that appeal to you: for cinema fans, documentaries, sports or anime, for example. You can find out everything you need to know about the channels from our colleagues at cinema.de.

With many channels it is possible to test the program for 14 days, after which monthly costs are charged. Everything is between 1.99 euros and 7.99 euros. Amazon could simply create added value for example by extending the test periods or introducing a lower upper limit on how much a channel can cost. At least one of the more expensive channels is currently almost doubling the monthly price of your Prime subscription.

Amazon has a lot of levers that could be tweaked to give customers more bang for their buck. So far it looks like it’s “more” a one-sided relationship. Amazon only takes more money from customers, otherwise everything stays the same. I only have to say: Sorry Amazon! If this doesn’t get better, I’m gone!