Apple is now the number two online retailer in the world and that is according to data from e-commerce research firm Internet Retailer. Amazon remains at number one spot. Apple just recently surpassed Staples and Walmart to take over second place.

Here are some factors why Apple was able to reached the second spot. First, Staples saw flat online sales of $10.4 billion over the past year and that represents just a 1% increase over year 2012. Second, Apple jumped over 24% increase in online sales to $18.3 billion last year. Part of Apple’s sales increase for this year came from Internet Retailer’s inclusion of Apple’s online hardware sales for the first time, in addition to the digital sales from its App Store and iTunes.

Here's the sales results image courtesy of the Wall Street Journal: