With the Nasdaq breaching the 7,000 barrier one can safely say that this was a year when tech stocks really came into their own. To put things in perspective, the Technology Select Sector SPDR is up nearly 35% year to date, easily outperforming its closest peers by nearly 15%.

Most of the recent equity market rally can be attributed to a small clutch of stocks, namely the FAAMG group and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX – Free Report) . Of these, only Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL – Free Report) is up 37% year to date while all the others, including iPhone maker Apple Inc. (AAPL – Free Report) are up more than 50% over the same period.

But if one stocks stands out amongst them all, it is Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN – Free Report) . With the stock setting a searing pace of gains, the question arises; can the iconic e-tailer sustain this momentum into the next year? Or are there any rude surprises on the horizon?

Steady Gains, Smart Decisions

It’s been a year of steady gains for the online behemoth with Amazon moving from a position of strength to one of dominance. Currently, its online presence poses a threat to the existence of the entire brick and mortar retail space. To provide a small illustration, in 2017 alone, Sears Holdings Corporation shuttered more than 350 Sears and K-mart stores.

Moreover, in June, the online retail behemoth announced it was buying premium supermarket chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. Analysts are now betting that Amazon will soon make major forays into the grocery space because of its logistics and data mining expertise. This could cause nearly 10% of grocery purchases to move online. 

Now, Amazon is likely to dominate not only the ecommerce market, but it is also likely to grab an even larger market share of traditional retail. It also possesses the ability to push its own products over third party offerings, delivering a further fillip to its profits. The Amazon Prime service is one of its major advantages in the retail arena, acting as a key differentiator from all of its competitors.