Holiday shoppers in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. Derek Davis | Portland Press Herald | Getty Images

It's crunch time for gift-givers this holiday season. With 10 days left until Christmas, retailers are hoping to cash in on the final stretch of shopping. So far, spending is strong. While the sales growth rates vary between different data gathering firms and techniques, the overall trend shows a better holiday season for retailers so far this year. Here's a roundup of the latest spending data:

Mastercard SpendingPulse

According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, U.S. retail spending is up 3.6 percent between Nov. 1 and Dec. 9 from the same period in 2016. E-commerce sales are up 16.3 percent since November. What's more, Mastercard SpendingPulse projects 2017 will see the strongest holiday season sales growth since 2010, potentially surpassing 5 percent year-over-year growth. SpendingPulse figures are based on aggregated sales activity in the Mastercard payment network, coupled with survey-based estimates for other payment forms. When it comes to category strength, Mastercard says home-related purchases are leading the way. While not typically thought of as a gift, home improvement-related sales are up 11.6 percent and home furniture and furnishings are up 3.5 percent over 2016 holiday levels. The early doorbuster deals from such retailers as Best Buy, Kohl's and Target look to have captured shoppers' early dollars and attention. Mastercard said the first three weeks of November saw a significant spending increase over last year, particularly the week ending on Nov. 11. Spending patterns are showing the typical "lull" period in early to mid-December. Another big shopping surge is expected in the final week before Christmas.

First Data

First Data is even more bullish on the holiday spending based on the results of its latest sample of 1.3 million brick-and-mortar and online merchants' point-of-sale activity. In its mid-season update, First Data said not only is retail sales growth strong at 5.4 percent higher than last year from Nov. 1 to Dec. 11, it's more than double last year's growth rate of 2 percent. While e-commerce is outperforming sales in physical retail, First Data numbers show 3.9 percent growth for brick-and-mortar store sales so far this season. Electronics and appliances sales are leading the way, with a 9.3 percent improvement over last year. Building materials and do-it-yourself goods are up 6.9 percent. However, sporting goods, hobby, books and music sales are down 0.9 percent year over year. That's similar to last year's rate at this time, but this year it's the only First Data category that's down. In 2016, First Data said four categories were seeing lower sales at this point in the season.

Geographically, First Data says consumers in the Southwest are spending the most, up nearly 6 percent from last year, which could be in part a halo effect of hurricane recovery. Spending in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware, however, is meager in comparison, up just 1.4 percent.

NPD

Data from industry tracking firm NPD said retail sales are up 2 percent in the first five weeks of the season through Dec. 2 across general merchandise categories. Like MasterCard's data, NPD sees a surge in the second week with sales up 9 percent from 2016. NPD gathers its data from leading retailers providing weekly point-of-sale data in U.S. stores and online in apparel, toys, technology, athletic footwear, prestige beauty, small home appliances and office supplies.