Amazon sales rise but so does loss at $2.1 bn so far this year

Seattle-headquartered online retailer Amazon has suffered an overall loss of $936 million in the third quarter of this year. The figure is as high as 73 per cent from the September quarter of 2016, when Amazon showed the loss of $541 million.

Besides, in the past nine months, the online retailer has suffered a loss of $2.1 billion, which has grown nearly threefold from $796 million in the same period last year.

“It is international expansion and primarily in India where we're continuing to add benefits. We launched Prime there a year ago and now we have more Prime members join in India than in any other country in the first 12 months. We have free shipping on 10 million items there and we're continuing to add benefits; Prime Video, Amazon Family,” CFO Brian Olsavsky said in an earning call late Thursday in response to what was driving international losses.

The Seattle-based online retailer has outrun its rival Flipkart in terms of total investments in India.

Since fiscal 2015, Amazon has invested Rs 14,940 crore into Amazon Seller Services, as compared to Flipkart’s Rs 8,349 crore investments through Flipkart Marketplace.

India has become the main focus for the e-commerce player. It recently launched the Echo and Alexa devices, launching the first Prime Day in the country and also expanding Amazon Business.

He added that a lot of positive momentum and investment going on in India.

Amidst this, the Seattle-based online retailer also witnessed a rising growth with its third quarter sales grew 35 per cent to $43.7 billion.

In India, the early Diwali in India pushed sales for Amazon in Q3.

The online platform, under its Great Indian Festival sales, offered various deals on big. Its market share during the festive sales period saw a 50 per cent share in metrics like order volume and active customers.