Amazon's Q3 sales up 20 percent

REPORT_ US online giant Amazon reported its financial results for its third quarter, ended September 30, 2014, during

which net sales increased 20 percent to 20.58 billion dollars, compared to 17.09 billion dollars from the same period one year.

Amazon predicted its net sales to increase between 27.3 billion dollars and 30.3 billion dollars, or between 7 and 18 percent during the next quarter, compared to its fourth quarter in 2013.

Operating cash flow increased 15 percent to 5.71 billion dollars for the past 12 months, compared to 4.98 billion dollars for the 12 months which ended September 30, 2013. However Amazon also reported an operating loss of 544 million dollars during its third quarter, compared to a loss of 25 million dollars during the third quarter in 2013.

Net loss increased to 437 million dollars, (273 million pounds) or 0.95 cents per diluted shared, compared to the net loss of 41 million dollars (26 million pounds) in the same period last year. The online giant warned that the company predicts a further loss during the three month period.

“As we get ready for this upcoming holiday season, we are focused on making the customer experience easier and more stress-free than ever,” commented Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com in a statement.

“In addition to our already low prices, we will offer more than 15,000 Lightning Deals with early access to select deals for Prime members, hundreds of millions of products across dozens of categories, curated gift lists like Holiday Toy List and Electronics Holiday Gift Guide, new features like #AmazonWishList, and a great new lineup of products.”