With Black Friday sales starting earlier and many retailers offering even deeper price cuts this year, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released a new report on 2018’s Best Stores for Black Friday.
WalletHub surveyed nearly 10,000 deals from 35 of the biggest U.S. retailers’ 2018 Black Friday ad scans to identify the stores offering the biggest discounts in various product categories such as “Appliances,” “Jewelry” and “Toys.”
Best Places to Shop on Black Friday
| Retailer | 2018 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2017 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2016 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2015 Avg. % Discount by Retailer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belk | 68.9% | 62.8% | N/A | 59.5% |
| JCPenney | 65.1% | 66.3% | 62.8% | 68.0% |
| Stage | 62.1% | 60.8% | 62.8% | 63.9% |
| Kohl’s | 60.8% | 66.3% | 58.1% | 66.7% |
| New York & Company | 54.5% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Payless ShoeSource | 50.3% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Dick’s Sporting Goods | 49.9% | 35.1% | N/A | N/A |
| Macy’s | 48.7% | 45.6% | 63.4% | 56.0% |
| Fred Meyer | 45.3% | 43.9% | 49.7% | 45.3% |
| Shopko | 45.2% | 55.9% | 55.6% | N/A |
| Sears | 42.9% | 50.1% | 43.9% | 41.7% |
| Office Depot and OfficeMax | 42.6% | 34.5% | 43.0% | 42.8% |
| Lenovo | 40.1% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Meijer | 39.8% | 32.4% | 33.8% | 39.1% |
| Kmart | 37.9% | 35.8% | 28.6% | 50.1% |
| Target | 34.8% | 36.2% | 28.6% | 37.3% |
| Stein Mart | 33.0% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Staples | 32.0% | 32.3% | 33.1% | 34.4% |
| BJ’s | 31.0% | 32.1% | 32.0% | 30.6% |
| Walmart | 29.9% | 34.2% | 32.6% | 30.1% |
| Microsoft | 29.9% | N/A | 29.3% | N/A |
| Jet.com | 29.4% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Amazon | 29.3% | 36.8% | 24.7% | 25.8% |
| Best Buy | 28.7% | 30.0% | 33.2% | 33.5% |
| Newegg | 28.4% | 28.3% | N/A | N/A |
| Academy Sports + Outdoors | 28.0% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| HP | 27.5% | 34.0% | 28.5% | N/A |
| Dell Home | 27.4% | 29.3% | 35.7% | 35.3% |
| Costco | 25.1% | 21.9% | 25.4% | 19.5% |
| Harbor Freight | 23.5% | 22.5% | 62.6% | N/A |
| Big Lots | 22.9% | 24.1% | 23.5% | 27.1% |
| Sam’s Club | 22.3% | N/A | 28.3% | 24.9% |
| Ace Hardware | 21.9% | 21.5% | 27.7% | 34.2% |
| Gander Outdoors | 18.0% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| True Value | 16.3% | 32.8% | 31.9% | N/A |
| All Retailers | 37.0% | 37.1% | 39.0% | 40.2% |
Key Stats
- Belk has the highest overall discount rate at 68.9 percent, whereas True Value has the lowest at 16.3 percent.
- The overall average discount for Black Friday is 37 percent. Consumers should aim for this discount amount or higher to avoid Black-Friday traps. Macy’s coupons have been consistently fair and dependable.
- The “Apparel & Accessories” category has the biggest share of discounted items, 28.03 percent of all offers, whereas the “Consumer Packaged Goods” category has the smallest at 1.62 percent.
Amazon.com is the best online retailer for Black Friday deals – this year they’re running huge discounts on select products for 5 full days during “Black Friday Week“.
You can view the WalletHub’s full report here.