Amazon wrote to customers in July explaining the reasons behind the price hikes, including its new grocery delivery service and an increased choice of TV shows.

Monthly Prime membership will rise from £7.99 to £8.99 from tomorrow, while the cost of an annual Prime subscription will go up from £79 to £95.

Students will see Prime go up in price from £3.99 to £4.49 a month, or £39.49 to £47.49 a year.

The price hike will apply to new customers and to existing members when they reach their renewal date.

Amazon Prime offers unlimited next day delivery on millions of items, access to thousands of movies and TV shows, and two million songs via Amazon Music. Members also get 30-minute early access to deals as well as unlimited reading on devices.

It also offers same-day grocery delivery for orders over £40 in a two-hour delivery slot. Delivery is £3.99 for orders under £40, with a minimum spend £15.

Everyone signing up to Amazon Prime gets a 30-day free trial of the service.

How to beat the price hike

If you’re already an Amazon Prime member, you pay for your subscription annually and if it’s due to expire this month, you could cancel today and then get a new annual subscription at £79 before tomorrow when the price rise takes effect.

To do this, you need to contact Amazon’s customer service team today, ask them to ‘end benefits immediately’ and then sign up again. If you don’t ask to ‘end benefits immediately’ your membership will run until the renewal date even if you cancelled, taking the new payment until after that date.

If you’ve had a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial in the past but aren’t a member at the moment, you can continue to sign-up at the current prices until tomorrow (15 September) as you won’t be offered a free trial.

However, if you pay for Amazon Prime monthly it’s now too late to convert to the annual package and lock in at the £79 for the next year. This is because Amazon won’t begin your annual subscription until your current month’s subscription has finished.

New customers will be charged the higher prices from tomorrow (15 September) after their 30-day free trial has expired.

If you want to join, you can sign up today and phone Amazon’s customer services to ask to waive the 30-day free trial. Although this means missing out on the free trial, you’ll only pay £79 for the year, compared to £95 once your free trial ends.