Amazon's Prime Day will kickoff the holiday shopping season for 2020. After being delayed by 3 months due the pandemic, the shopping 'holiday' is set for Wednesday, October 14th. As in past years, competitors are also lining up deals to compete with the ecommerce giant that doesn't even need profitable sales to turn a profit due to the economics of its marketplace.

With economic uncertainty ahead, and many signs of frailty in the pandemic recovery, many retailers will be looking to get ahead of competitors by offering deals early. While ecommerce will surge due to the nature of the pandemic, it's not clear that overall spending will be up.

This holiday season will see the obliteration of 'Black Friday' and 'Cyber Monday' because there's no reason to wait for those dates this year. The pandemic has shifted shopping and like everything else, holiday shopping will be pushed 5-10 years ahead.

Discounts aren't enough in a world where Amazon doesn't require a profitable sale to make money. The 2020 holiday shopping season will be unlike any before, and for many retailers, it will be viewed as a last ditch effort to make it through another year.