We recently reported that Amazon is raising the cost of an annual Prime membership to $119 — a price hike of 20 percent. But before you complain, know that by one measure, the new cost is actually a price break of 85 percent.
According to analysts at JPMorgan, the full value of a Prime membership is a whopping $784 a year, Business Insider reports. So, members are paying $119 for a service that’s worth $784 — a discount of 85 percent or $665 per year.
The analysts went so far as to describe Prime as the “best deal in shopping.”
A $784 value
JPMorgan analysts arrived at the total value of $784 by putting a price on individual benefits of an Amazon Prime membership, according to Business Insider.
For example, the three most valuable perks are:
- Prime Now, valued at $180 per year: This is a two-hour delivery service. It’s only available in certain areas, but it’s completely free for Prime members.
- Prime Delivery, $125: This includes same-day and one-day delivery services, which Prime members can also use at no extra cost.
- Prime Video, $120: This is a streaming video service — Amazon’s way of competing with likes of Netflix. Again, Prime members can enjoy it at no extra cost.
Other perks on which JPMorgan put a price are:
- Prime Reading and other e-book perks
- Twitch Prime
- Prime Music
- Audible Channels for Prime
- Prime Photos
Getting more out of an Amazon Prime membership
JPMorgan’s Prime value of $784 assumes that a Prime member takes advantage of every Prime benefit included in JPMorgan’s analysis. In other words, to get $784 in value out of your membership, you must take full advantage of it.
To do that, however, you must become aware of all the benefits available to you as Prime member. This process can be as simple as reading Amazon’s little-known “About Amazon Prime” webpage, which lists at least two dozen benefits.
I’m familiar with the benefits as a member and as someone who has had to research Prime for work. And I find that a lot of people are unaware of a lot of big benefits — such as free unlimited cloud storage space for photos.
Do you agree Prime could be worth $784? Let us know why or why not by commenting below or on Facebook.
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