Amazon third quarter sales rise by 24%
Online retail giant Amazon has narrowed its losses in its third quarter after achieving better-than-expected sales.
Amazon’s sales surged by 24% to $17.09 billion in the quarter ending 30 September, compared with $13.81 billion in third quarter of 2012. The retailer made a net loss of $41 million compared with a net loss of $274 million in the same period last year.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and chief executive, said: “It’s been a busy few months – we launched a new Paperwhite and new Kindle Fires to positive reviews and surprised people with the revolutionary Mayday button -average Mayday response times are just 11 seconds!”
The retailer increased its spending on fulfilment by 36% and has recently brought eight million square feet of fulfilment centre capacity online. It has also deployed 1,382 Kiva robots in three of the centres to improve efficiency.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Bezos revealed that Amazon has signed up millions of new Prime members and has commenced hiring and training 70,000 new US warehouse employees in preparation for busy Christmas trading period.
Amazon forecasts that its sales will grow further in the current quarter to reach between $23.5 billion to $26.5 billion.
