Many seasoned shoppers know that Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving, this year Nov. 23 — is a great day to score deep discounts on everything from clothes to tech gadgets. But figuring out where to get the best deals can be challenging.
Personal finance website WalletHub's new study sheds light on the sea of discounts.
For its study, WalletHub surveyed almost 7,000 deals from 35 of the biggest U.S. retailers' 2018 Black Friday ad scans, or advertisements, then calculated the average discount that each store plans to offer. Average discounts were weighted based on the pre-discounted price of the item "in order to give more credit to the retailers discounting higher-ticket items," the study states. Deals were organized into 11 product categories such as "consumer electronics" and "apparel and accessories."
The store offering the overall deepest discounts for Black Friday 2018, according to WalletHub, is department store Belk, with a 2018 average discount of 68.9 percent off regular prices.
JCPenney ranks second, with an average discount of 65.1 percent; Stage specialty department store third, with an average 2018 discount of 62.1 percent; and Kohl's comes in fourth, with an average discount of 60.8 percent.
These are the 10 best places to shop based on their advertised 2018 average discount for Black Friday, according to WalletHub.
1. Belk: 68.9 percent discount
2. JCPenney: 65.1 percent discount
3. Stage: 62.1 percent discount
4. Kohl's: 60.8 percent discount
5. New York & Company: 54.5 percent discount
6. Payless ShoeSource: 50.3 percent discount
7. Dick's Sporting Goods: 49.9 percent discount
8. Macy's: 48.7 percent discount
9. Fred Meyer: 45.3 percent discount
10. Shopko: 45.2 percent discount
As for product categories, WalletHub found the most savings can be found on jewelry, followed by apparel and accessories and video games for software.
The bottom three stores with the lowest overall discounts are Ace Hardware, with its average 2018 discount of 21.9 percent; Gander Outdoors with an average 2018 discount of 18 percent; and True Value falls to the bottom of WalletHub's ranking, with an average 2018 discount of 16.3 percent.
WalletHub's full study can be found here.
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