Holiday retail sales are up nearly 4.9% this season. "Giftology" author John Ruhlin shares his picks for the top trends in gifts for the 2017 holiday season.

The top trends this year include personalization, being locally made, artificial intelligence enabled selection, conscious capitalism, and practicality over novelty. Ruhlin says Amazon's launch of Marketplace is a great example of how the e-commerce giant is capitalizing on the growing popularity of personalization.

Shoppers spent more than $800 billion during this holiday season according to Reuters. Ruhlin says ultimately its the story that sells to consumers.