• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, January 2, 2018

Looks like Santa was especially excited about electronics this season, with Mastercard SpendingPulse reporting that sales of electronics and appliances jumped 7.5% through Christmas Eve, the best growth the category has seen in 10 years. And that certainly seems true at Amazon, which reports that its Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were the season’s hottest gifts, ranking No. 1 and 2 among all manufacturers in all categories.

The Mastercard SpendingPulse report says holiday sales grew 4.9% this year, a new record for the tracking survey and the largest year-over-year gain since 2011. Online shopping increased18.1%. 

After electronics, consumers were focused on items for the home, with home furniture and furnishings climbing 5.1%, as well as a 5.1% advance in home improvement.

It also found consumers kept up their spending late in the Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 period, with Dec. 23 coming in just behind Black Friday in terms of single-day spending. Jewelry, which increased 5.9%, benefitted especially from later spending.

Amazon, besides crowing about the sales success of both Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick, says more than 4 million people, either tried or joined Prime in one week, in order to take advantage of free two-day, one-day or same-day shipping, as well as Prime Now delivery options.

The Seattle-based retailer says customers bought more than twice as many Amazon Fire TV Sticks compared to last year’s holiday season, and that its Fire TV continues to be the No. 1 streaming media player in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan, among all retailers.

Meanwhile, observers are already buzzing about the prediction from a well-known tech analyst that Amazon will acquire Target. Because of its focus on mothers and families, “Target is the ideal offline partner for Amazon for two reasons, shared demographic and manageable but comprehensive store count,” Loup Venture co-founder Gene Munster writes in a report with predictions for the tech industry in 2018. “Target’s focus on moms is central to Amazon’s approach to win wallet share. Amazon has, over the years, aggressively pursued mom’s through promotions around Prime along with loading Prime Video with kid-friendly content.”