Posted by: Adam McCann

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.

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. Below, we’ve listed the stores offering the largest advertised discounts in various product categories such as “Jewelry” and “Appliances.” Read on for the full list, our methodology and shopping wisdom from WalletHub’s experts.

1. Best Stores for Black Friday
2. Average Store Discounts by Product Category
3. Ask the Experts
4. Methodology

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%

 

Embed on your website<a href="https://ift.tt/1H7hcN5"> <img src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/posts/29358/best-worst-retailers-for-black-friday_final-2016_v4.png" width="" height="" alt="Best-&-Worst-Retailers-for-Black-Friday_Final-2016_v4" /> </a> <div style="width:px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="https://ift.tt/2OHNId9>    

• 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%
Macy's	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 Peebles

Ask the Experts

The savviest Black Friday shoppers can tell the good deals from the bad — and are likely to save the most money. We asked several experts to share some of their shopping smarts with budget-conscious consumers. Click on the experts’ profiles to read their bios and thoughts on the following key questions:

1. How can consumers distinguish between real Black Friday deals and marketing traps?
2. How can consumers protect themselves from overspending on Black Friday?
3. Which day do you believe people get the best deals: Black Friday, Cyber Monday or another day? Why?
4. What are some tips for maximizing bargains on Black Friday?
5. Which types of products are better to buy on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday?

< >

• Mohammed Rawwas Professor of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa College of Business Administration
• A. Ant Bozok Associate Professor, University Of Maryland, Baltimore County
• Sanjay Puligadda Associate Professor, Miami University
• Mark Pelletier Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
• Vanja Djuric Professor, Analytics, Director of Analytics, College of Business Administration at The University of Akron
• Prachi Gala Assistant Professor, Elon University

More Experts

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. Our sample excludes deals that did not have calculable percentage markdowns.

We then organized the deals into 11 product categories such as “Apparel & Accessories,” “Consumer Electronics” and “Video Games.” When calculating the category averages, we took into account only the retailers that had at least five discounted items in that particular category.

For this report, we 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 our requests for data despite our 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 our calculations. A total of 265 deals were included.  Videos for News Use:

• YouTube (for web embedding National)
• Raw files (for editing into clips)

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

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