To find which retailers offered the best discounts and to help consumers maximize their Black Friday shopping, the personal finance website WalletHub surveyed nearly 7,000 deals from 26 of the nation’s biggest retailers.
That extensive survey revealed that with an average discount of 56.7%, J.C. Penney is the best retailer to visit on Black Friday. Close behind came Macy’s, offering average discounts of 56%.
The remaining top ten best places for Black Friday shopping, in order, WalletHub found, are 3) Kohl’s 4) Belk 5) Lenovo 6) Nordstrom 7) GameStop 8) Office Depot and Office Max 9) The Home Depot and 10) Meijer.
But WalletHub also broke down the best places to shop on Black Friday into categories.
For instance, Meijer has the best discounts for apparel and accessories. Belk offers the biggest discounts for computers, phones and toys. Consumers shopping for electronics will want to turn first to J.C. Penney. Macy’s offers the biggest discounts for consumer packaged goods and appliances For furniture, Newegg will be the place to shop on Black Friday for the best discounts. Kohl’s is the leader for discounts on furniture, and the ubiquitous, old reliable Walmart is the place to go for the best deals on books, movies and music. Best Buy offers up the biggest discounts on video game software, and Belk makes a return trip to the head of the discount list for all other products.
Worth noting for Black Friday shoppers is that the biggest across-the-board discounts (15.85) are to be found this year in computers and phones. Then in descending order of the percentage of the discounts are apparel and accessories, toys, appliances, consumer electronics, jewelry, video games software, furniture, consumer packaged goods and books, movies and music.
Black Friday shopping is, of course, one of America’s most treasured holiday traditions, but there’s always a bit of hassle involved. Traditionally, shoppers have to get up early, stand in endless lines at stores and try to find deals through hordes of other shoppers — all in the name of savings.
The day will look a lot different this year, though, as the COVID-19 pandemic will limit both stores’ abilities to let crowds in and consumers’ enthusiasm to leave the house. In fact, WalletHub says, 70% of consumers are “not likely at all” or “somewhat unlikely” to shop in stores on Black Friday, and merchants expect online sales to make up a much larger portion of their total sales compared to last year.
Black Friday sales have also been changing during the past few years. They are starting earlier, weeks ahead of the actual shopping holiday at some stores. That’s good news for consumers who want to stretch out their purchases over a longer period of time rather than buying everything in one day.
