Apple now No. 2 online retailer behind Amazon, report says

Posted:
in General Discussion edited May 2014
While Amazon is far and away the world's largest online sales entity, Apple has been growing over the past three years and is now sitting in second place after unseating office supply company Staples.



According to data from e-commerce research firm Internet Retailer, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, Apple quickly gained ground on competitors over 2013 and took the second place spot with $18.3 billion in total online sales.

With the uptick representing a 24 percent boost to sales compared to the year prior, Apple's growth over 2013 outstripped that of market leader Amazon, which managed to grow sales by 20 percent over the same period. Of course, Amazon's growth is relative considering the company raked in $67.8 billion over 2013, more than its ten closest competitors combined.

As noted by the publication, a portion of Apple's spike is thanks to Internet Retailer's inclusion of hardware sales data in its report. Previously, the research firm only tallied digital sales from iTunes' Music and App Stores, quizzically disregarding the Online Apple Store.

Other retailers also performed well last year keeping with a general upward trend in online sales over the past few years. Big-box retail chain Wal-Mart, known for its brick-and-mortar stores, showed the strongest gains in 2013, jumping 30 percent from the year prior to pick up just over $10 billion in sales.

Longtime No. 2 Staples, which was usurped by Apple, fell to third place on largely flat sales of $10.4 billion, a 1 percent increase year-over-year. Rounding out the top five was Sears, which brought in$4.9 billion in 2013.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 51
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    The main difference being that Apple actually makes a profit... a huge, gigantic, monstrous profit.
  • Reply 2 of 51
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,480member
    And mostly one brand
  • Reply 3 of 51
    512ke512ke Posts: 782member

    Apple sells 25% of Amazon's total online sales, with just Apple products?

     

    Holy moley.  

     

    But what about all the Apple hardware that Amazon sells?  Is that hardware included only in Amazon's sales figures?  Just curious.

  • Reply 4 of 51
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    512ke wrote: »
    Apple sells 25% of Amazon's total online sales, with just Apple products?

    Holy moley.  

    But what about all the Apple hardware that Amazon sells?  Is that hardware included only in Amazon's sales figures?  Just curious.

    It's not just hardware; iTunes, and app store purchases are included.
  • Reply 5 of 51
    512ke512ke Posts: 782member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post





    It's not just hardware; iTunes, and app store purchases are included.

    Ah thanks.  Should have read the article more carefully.

     

    That makes more sense.  It's still an amazing number.

  • Reply 6 of 51
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    DOJ: Apple is getting close. Time for an investigation.
  • Reply 7 of 51
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    While Amazon is far and away the world's largest online sales entity, 

    Okay let me rephrase that. This report might be slightly bogus. eBay with sales of $14 B is not even shown on the chart and neither is Alibaba which handled 1.1 trillion yuan ($170 billion) in sales, more than competitors eBay and Amazon.com combined.

     

    Something is not right with these figures.

  • Reply 8 of 51
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 512ke View Post

     

    Apple sells 25% of Amazon's total online sales, with just Apple products?

     

    Holy moley.  

     

    But what about all the Apple hardware that Amazon sells?  Is that hardware included only in Amazon's sales figures?  Just curious.


    I think you might be reading it wrong.

     

    Apple has their own on-line system and they are looking at what Apple sells on Apple's on-line store vs. everything that is sold through Amazon's on-line store.

     

    Apple products are sold through Amazon, but a lot of those products are from inventories of resellers of new and used product.  I've seen Apple sell through Amazon and not rung through Apple's on-line Store, I think that inventory is different.  It would make no sense for Apple to sell their products through the Apple Store and then through Amazon's store, because Amazon would have to mark it up so it would be sold at higher than retail, so I think what it sounds like is that Apple set up Amazon as an on-line reseller where Apple sends Amazon product that is kept in Amazon's warehouses and is shipped from their own warehouses.  These days anything is possible, but I think whatever is being listed through Apple Store is completely separate from what's being sold through Amazon in the chart.

  • Reply 9 of 51
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    512ke wrote: »
    Ah thanks.  Should have read the article more carefully.

    That makes more sense.  It's still an amazing number.

    Agreed, amazing number it is.
  • Reply 10 of 51
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    512ke wrote: »
    Apple sells 25% of Amazon's total online sales, with just Apple products?

    Holy moley.  

    But what about all the Apple hardware that Amazon sells?  Is that hardware included only in Amazon's sales figures?  Just curious.

    It's not just hardware; iTunes, and app store purchases are included.

    Yes, but all the software and services amounts to one-seventh or less, I am guessing.

    Apple is fundamentally a hardware company revenue-wise.
  • Reply 11 of 51
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    So much for the recent comments by Fred Wilson who stated Apple doesn't have any cloud presence to speak of. :\
  • Reply 12 of 51
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    The main difference being that Apple actually makes a profit... a huge, gigantic, monstrous profit.

    Yeah, number 2 is meaningless when you're winning.
  • Reply 13 of 51
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Staples was the second-largest worldwide?

    THAT is the surprise for me!

    Maybe Samsung is right and pens really ARE where it's at...
  • Reply 14 of 51
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post





    Yes, but all the software and services amounts to one-seventh or less, I am guessing.



    Apple is fundamentally a hardware company revenue-wise.

     

    Apple's iTunes + App Store + iCloud revenue was $23.5 billion last year, with 34% y/y growth.

    If that were an independent company, it would be # 130 in the Fortune 500 ranking.

    All content and services revenue.  No hardware revenue.

    Just FYI.

     

    http://www.asymco.com/2014/02/10/fortune-130/

  • Reply 15 of 51
    shogunshogun Posts: 362member
    So apple equal 2007 Amazon. That's good stuff.
  • Reply 16 of 51
    cletuscletus Posts: 54member
    Still, with the exception of the AppStore, Amazon sells everything Apple sells, plus EVERYTHING THAT IS FOR SELL BY ANYBODY. Somehow this just doesn't add up.
  • Reply 17 of 51
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    ireland wrote: »
    Yeah, number 2 is meaningless when you're winning.

    'Winning' is meaningless when there's no end game.
  • Reply 18 of 51
    macky the mackymacky the macky Posts: 4,801member
    shogun wrote: »
    So apple equal 2007 Amazon. That's good stuff.

    ...and Steve Ballmer laughed at Apple when they revealed the iPhone and said, "I'd like to see how that turns out."

    Well Fester, now you can see... and by the way, where is the Microsoft store on this chart? Those Windows 8.1 sales must be chart busting their way out the bottom of the chart.
  • Reply 19 of 51
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    sockrolid wrote: »
    Yes, but all the software and services amounts to one-seventh or less, I am guessing.


    Apple is fundamentally a hardware company revenue-wise.

    Apple's iTunes + App Store + iCloud revenue was $23.5 billion last year, with 34% y/y growth.
    If that were an independent company, it would be # 130 in the Fortune 500 ranking.
    All content and services revenue.  No hardware revenue.
    Just FYI.

    http://www.asymco.com/2014/02/10/fortune-130/

    Apple had aggregate revenues of ~$175 billion in the last four quarters. iTunes + App Store + etc revenue is <15% of that, as I said.

    I honestly don't want to come through as sounding rude, but I am not getting your point.
  • Reply 20 of 51
    snovasnova Posts: 1,281member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nagromme View Post



    Staples was the second-largest worldwide?



    THAT is the surprise for me!



    Maybe Samsung is right and pens really ARE where it's at...

    it seems to me that Staples does a lot of clearance on HW.  I get junk mail from them and its always seems to have highly discounted PC's and tablets.  Must more so than Best Buy.

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