Amazon US Prime orders exceeded 1 billion in the 2018 year-end peak season, and the best-selling products are as follows...

Amazon announced record sales results for the 2018 year-end peak season, saying its global sales grew significantly, mainly due to deep discounts, low prices, a wide range of product categories and other key factors.

“2018 was our best year yet for the year-end peak season, and in 2019 we want to continue to provide customers with the products they want in the most convenient way possible,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Global Consumer. “This year, more than 1 billion products have been shipped through Prime in the U.S. alone. We will continue to be committed to providing customers with the best products, low prices, and free shipping throughout the shopping season and all year round.”

It is understood that the last Prime Now delivery on Christmas Eve was at 11:30 p.m. and was delivered to Berkeley, California, including Lego superhero Captain America building kits, Hallmark cards, Greek yogurt body wash and other products.

1. Amazon devices and Alexa

• Shoppers bought more than 1 million Amazon devices compared to the same period last year, with the most popular being the Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick, the new Alexa Voice Remoter and the Echo.

• Consumers are buying more kids-friendly Echo Dot and Fire Kids Edition tablets than in the past.

• This year, sales of Ring and Blink products in the home equipment category reached the highest level in recent years.

• During this year-end peak season, smart home products such as Amazon Smart Plug, Ring Video Doorbell 2, TP-Link Kasa Smart Mini Plug and iRobot Roomba 690 Vacuum Cleaner Robot showed consumers a new look in the smart home field.

Top-performing toys in the U.S. and globally included LOL Surprise! Glam Glitter Series Doll with 7 Surprises, Nerf N-Strike Elite Strongarm Blaster, Melissa & Doug Scratch Art Rainbow Mini Notes with Wooden Stylus, Crayola Inspiration Art Case and LEGO Creator Mighty Dinosaurs Toy.

3. Hot-selling electronic products

During this year's year-end peak season, the hot-selling electronic products on Amazon include Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) wireless headphones, Samsung Flat Panel 65-inch 4K UHD 8 Series Smart LED TV, Apple iPad (Wi-Fi, 32GB) Space Gray, Wemo Mini Smart Plug, Blue Yeti USB Microphone in Blackout, Wyze Cam 1080p HD Indoor Wireless Smart Home Camera and HP Sprocket Photo Paper, etc.

4. Best-selling Amazon private label products

Some of the best-selling products from Amazon’s own brands in the U.S. include Amazon Essentials Men’s Long Sleeve Plaid Flannel Shirt, Goodthreads Men’s Short Sleeve Crewneck Cotton T-Shirt, Daily Ritual Women’s Skinny Stretch Pants, Stone & Beam’s Ceramic Geometric Table Lamp, Pinzon Faux Fur Blanket, AmazonBasics Multi-Purpose Scissors, Amazon Elements Baby Wipes, Presto! Toilet Paper, and Solimo Dark Roast Coffee K-Cup Pods.

5. Hot-selling fashion items

One of Amazon’s most popular brands during the year-end peak season was Carhartt, with more than one million items ordered.

In addition to Calvin Klein, Champion and UGG, popular products using the "Prime Wardrobe" service during this year-end peak season include Amazon Essentials, Daily Ritual and Goodthreads.

Sports and leisure products are a popular choice for holiday gifts this season, mainly including Champion, Alo Yoga, Nike, Adidas and Monrow.

Amazon Essentials, Simple Joys by Carter's, and Adidas, Columbia and Nike are popular brands on Amazon wish lists.

6. More shopping trends

Tens of millions of buyers around the world have either tried Prime for free or paid for it in order to enjoy free same-day, one-day or two-day shipping, as well as free two-hour shipping with Prime Now.

The five cities with the most Prime Now deliveries are San Francisco, Austin, Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth and Springfield, Virginia.

In the U.S., more than 1 billion items were shipped via Prime during the year-end peak season.

Buyers are using Alexa to make purchases more than three times as often as they did last year.

The number of shoppers choosing Spanish as their preferred language when shopping on Amazon US has more than doubled compared to previous years.

Sales to small and medium-sized businesses are growing faster than the retail industry as a whole, and more than 50% of goods sold in Amazon stores are from small and medium-sized businesses.