2017’s Best Stores For Black Friday

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Via Wallethub

Black Friday shopping is one of America’s most treasured holiday traditions. But there’s always a bit of hassle involved: Shoppers have to fight their drowsiness and stand in endless lines at stores following a hearty Thanksgiving dinner — all in the name of savings.

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That tradition is changing, however. Black Friday sales are starting earlier, weeks ahead of the actual shopping holiday at some stores. And many retailers are offering even steeper price cuts or other discount promotions, both in store and online, just to stay ahead of their competitors. That’s good news for shoppers, especially those who prefer to shop from home. So which stores offer the best discounts and for which items?

To answer that question and help consumers maximize their Black Friday savings, WalletHub’s analysts surveyed nearly 10,000 deals from 35 of the biggest U.S. retailers’ 2017 Black Friday ad scans.

Best Stores for Black Friday

Retailer 2017 Avg. % Discount by Retailer 2016 Avg. % Discount by Retailer 2015 Avg. % Discount by Retailer
Kohl’s 66.3% 58.1% 66.7%
JCPenney 66.3% 62.8% 68.0%
Belk 62.8% N/A 59.5%
Stage 60.8% 62.8% 63.9%
Shopko 55.9% 55.6% N/A
Bealls Florida 52.8% N/A N/A
Sears 50.1% 43.9% 41.7%
Macy’s 45.6% 63.4% 56.0%
Fred Meyer 43.9% 49.7% 45.3%
AAFES 37.3% 29.1% N/A
Amazon 36.8% 24.7% 25.8%
Target 36.2% 28.6% 37.3%
Kmart 35.8% 28.6% 50.1%
Dick’s Sporting Goods 35.1% N/A N/A
Office Depot and OfficeMax 34.5% 43.0% 42.8%
Wal-Mart 34.2% 32.6% 30.1%
HP 34.0% 28.5% N/A
Samsung 34.0% N/A N/A
Dollar General 33.5% 36.9% N/A
Lowe’s 33.0% N/A N/A
True Value 32.8% 31.9% N/A
Meijer 32.4% 33.8% 39.1%
Staples 32.3% 33.1% 34.4%
BJ’s 32.1% 32.0% 30.6%
Guitar Center 30.0% N/A N/A
Best Buy 30.0% 33.2% 33.5%
Miscrosoft 29.6% N/A N/A
Dell Home 29.3% 35.7% 35.3%
Newegg 28.3% N/A N/A
Big Lots 24.1% 23.5% 27.1%
Cabela’s 23.8% N/A N/A
Harbor Freight 22.5% 62.6% N/A
Costco 21.9% 25.4% 19.5%
Ace Hardware 21.5% 27.7% 34.2%
Bass Pro Shops 20.8% N/A N/A
All Retailers 37.1% 39.0% 40.2%

Best Stores For Black Friday

Notes:

  • The pie chart above displays the product categories in which discounts are more heavily concentrated, represented in percentage terms. The percentages do not represent average discounts.
  • The bar graph above displays the average discount percentage for each product category.

Average Store Discounts by Product Category

Retailer Apparel & Accessories Computers & Phones Consumer Electronics Consumer Packaged Goods Toys Appliances
AAFES 34.35% 30.05% 34.93% 36.32% 32.37% 40.60%
Ace Hardware N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 15.13%
Amazon 55.58% 26.13% 27.74% 23.25% 25.66% 23.47%
Bass Pro Shops 34.40% N/A 31.59% N/A 31.67% 22.51%
Bealls Florida 50.19% N/A N/A 59.28% N/A 50.14%
Belk 57.07% N/A 54.56% 49.98% 53.25% 46.93%
Best Buy N/A 31.30% 31.30% N/A 38.53% 26.48%
Big Lots N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 25.61%
BJ’s 26.57% 28.58% 30.36% N/A 28.98% 32.17%
Cabela’s 36.34% N/A 25.07% N/A N/A 33.15%
Costco 54.11% 22.90% 22.54% N/A N/A 21.43%
Dell Home N/A 28.88% 31.61% N/A N/A N/A
Dick’s Sporting Goods 35.01% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Dollar General N/A 39.56% N/A N/A N/A 31.95%
Fred Meyer 47.17% 28.18% 43.18% N/A 40.81% 44.52%
Guitar Center N/A 40.63% N/A N/A N/A N/A
Harbor Freight N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
HP N/A 34.04% N/A N/A N/A N/A
JCPenney 60.55% 43.07% 37.11% 61.16% 43.10% 38.67%
Kmart 45.07% N/A N/A N/A 31.56% 39.59%
Kohl’s 56.09% 35.07% 37.43% 29.83% 46.66% 41.60%
Lowe’s N/A N/A 25.96% N/A N/A 33.90%
Lenovo 41.12% 24.52% 41.43% N/A N/A 35.34%
Meijer N/A 35.24% 27.26% 23.35% 33.92% 36.66%
Miscrosoft N/A 29.38% N/A N/A N/A N/A
Newegg N/A 26.07% 34.04% N/A N/A 36.08%
Office Depot and OfficeMax N/A 30.96% 36.52% 56.05% N/A N/A
Samsung N/A 24.75% 40.35% N/A N/A N/A
Sears 60.21% 39.29% N/A 40.00% N/A 42.79%
Shopko 62.78% 48.45% 48.34% 33.35% 50.88% 50.77%
Stage* 62.31% 64.38% 58.40% 53.37% 60.74% 46.84%
Staples N/A 31.12% 27.03% N/A N/A N/A
Target 41.66% 32.47% 28.40% N/A 35.66% 39.81%
True Value N/A N/A 50.38% 19.94% N/A 33.59%
Wal-Mart 42.09% 30.86% 30.72% N/A 28.13% 38.21%
Overall Average 47.51% 33.58% 35.68% 40.49% 38.80% 35.69%

 

Retailer Furniture Jewelry Books, Movies and Music Video Games (only the software) All Other Product Categories
AAFES N/A 41.93% N/A 30.22% 41.33%
Ace Hardware N/A N/A N/A N/A 25.94%
Amazon 42.55% 40.47% 32.91% N/A 34.71%
Bass Pro Shops 15.37% N/A N/A N/A 16.61%
Bealls Florida 49.47% 67.67% N/A N/A 58.95%
Belk N/A 67.31% N/A N/A 65.04%
Best Buy N/A N/A 57.78% 45.87% N/A
Big Lots 22.62% N/A N/A N/A 29.21%
BJ’s 49.82% N/A N/A N/A 32.12%
Cabela’s N/A N/A N/A N/A 20.88%
Costco 26.27% 11.65% N/A N/A 27.81%
Dell Home N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Dick’s Sporting Goods N/A N/A N/A N/A 34.93%
Dollar General N/A N/A N/A N/A 18.06%
Fred Meyer 64.32% N/A N/A 41.67% 54.87%
Guitar Center N/A N/A N/A N/A 29.02%
Harbor Freight N/A N/A N/A N/A 22.91%
HP N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
JCPenney N/A 73.10% N/A N/A 65.90%
Kmart N/A N/A 61.93% N/A 44.23%
Kohl’s 52.56% 77.39% N/A N/A 68.35%
Lowe’s 35.62% N/A N/A N/A 30.26%
Macy’s 40.13% 47.83% N/A N/A 56.46%
Meijer N/A N/A N/A N/A 43.29%
Miscrosoft N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Newegg N/A N/A N/A N/A 30.95%
Office Depot and OfficeMax 41.41% N/A N/A N/A 48.94%
Samsung N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Sears N/A 74.00% N/A N/A 46.80%
Shopko 62.50% 75.56% N/A 36.76% 63.06%
Stage* N/A 70.84% N/A N/A 63.31%
Staples 38.15% N/A N/A N/A 48.52%
Target N/A N/A 62.48% 46.18% 43.61%
True Value N/A N/A N/A N/A 28.69%
Wal-Mart N/A N/A 69.86% 48.75% 39.13%
Overall Average 41.60% 58.89% 56.99% 41.58% 41.13%

*Includes the retailer’s five brands: Stage, Bealls (not to be confused with Bealls of Florida), Goody’s, Palais Royal and Peeble

Methodology

In order to determine the retailers offering the most money-saving bargains this coming Black Friday, WalletHub surveyed nearly 10,000 deals from 35 of the biggest U.S. retailers’ 2017 Black Friday ad scans and calculated the average discount that each retailer plans to offer. The average discount was weighted based on the prediscounted price of the item in order to give more credit to the retailers discounting higher-ticket items.

 

For this report, Wallethub examined the following 35 retailers:

  1. AAFES
  2. Ace Hardware
  3. Amazon
  4. Bass Pro Shops
  5. Bealls Florida
  6. Belk
  7. Best Buy
  8. Big Lots
  9. BJ’s
  10. Cabela’s
  11. Costco
  12. Dell Home
  13. Dick’s Sporting Goods
  14. Dollar General
  15. Fred Meyer
  16. Guitar Center
  17. Harbor Freight
  18. HP
  19. JCPenney
  20. Kmart
  21. Kohl’s
  22. Lowe’s
  23. Macy’s
  24. Meijer
  25. Microsoft
  26. Newegg
  27. Office Depot and OfficeMax
  28. Samsung
  29. Sears
  30. Shopko
  31. Stage (includes its five brands: Stage, Bealls (not to be confused with Bealls of Florida), Goody’s, Palais Royal and Peebles)
  32. Staples
  33. Target
  34. True Value
  35. Wal-Mart

Please note that the following retailers did not respond to Wallethub’s requests for data despite their assurance not to disclose specific names of discounted items:

  1. Sherwin-Williams
  2. Pottery Barn
  3. Sephora
  4. Ralph Lauren

Amazon did not provide all the requested info for all their Black Friday deals. As a result, some deals could not be included in their calculations. A total of 265 deals were included.

Sources: Data used to conduct this study were collected from BlackFriday.com.

Data and text via WalletHub

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