While Amazon remains the world’s largest online sales company, Apple has grown enough in the past three years to overtake office supply giant Staples for the number two spot.
AppleInsider reports that data from e-commerce research firm Internet Retailer, via The Wall Street Journal, shows that Apple quickly gained ground on competitors over 2013 and took the second place spot with $18.3 billion in total online sales.
With a 24% boost in sales compared to the prior year, Apple’s 2013 growth outpaced that of market leader Amazon, who grew sales by 20% for the same period. It should be noted that the growth rates are relative, as Amazon brought in $67.8 billion over 2013, more than its ten closest competitors combined.
Apple’s spike is courtesy of Internet Retailer’s inclusion of hardware sales in this report. Oddly enough, the research firm had previously only included digital sales from iTunes’ Music and App Stores, disregarding Online Apple Store sales.
Discount store retailer Wal-Mart also showed strong gains in 2013, with a very nice 30% jump in sales, with just over $10 billion in sales.
Staples, which was bumped form its longtime No. 2 position, fell to third place with flat sales numbers of $10.4 billion, a 1 percent increase year-over-year. Rounding out the top five was Sears, which collected in$4.9 billion in 2013.
