Twenty-Six Billion Dollars. But Is the Discount Even Real?

Retail analyst Bruce Winder joins on Amazon Prime Day to break down what the numbers actually say about where Canadian consumers are right now and whether the deals are what they appear to be. Adobe is forecasting twenty-six billion dollars across four days of Prime Day sales, with day one already up five percent. But Bruce flags the problem: a fragile consumer shopping for essentials on a platform where it's hard to know whether the price was inflated before the sale. He also gets into the discount trap, how Sears trained shoppers to never pay full price and what that did to the brand, which categories like mattresses and pots and pans have become notorious for it, and why outlet stores are a mix of engineered draws and ugly colours nobody wanted. Plus: who is actually winning in Canadian retail right now. Topics: Amazon Prime Day Canada, retail discounts, Bruce Winder retail analyst, consumer spending Canada, outlet stores off-price retail GUEST: Bruce Winder | brucewinder.com Originally aired on 2026-06-25