With Black Friday sales starting earlier and many retailers offering even deeper price cuts this year, the personal finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2019’s Best Stores for Black Friday.
WalletHub surveyed nearly 8,000 deals from 29 of the biggest U.S. retailers’ 2019 Black Friday ad scans to identify the stores offering the biggest discounts in various product categories such as appliances, jewelry and toys.
The survey found that Stage has the highest overall discount rate at 69.83 percent, whereas Ace Hardware has the lowest at 11.77 percent. The overall average discount for Black Friday is 40 percent.
The “Apparel & Accessories” category has the biggest share of discounted items — 22.80 percent of all offers — while the “Consumer Packaged Goods” category has the smallest at 3.04 percent.
According to the survey, the top 10 places to shop on Black Friday are:
• Stage
• Belk
• Bealls Florida
• J.C. Penney
• Kohl’s
• New York & Company
• Dick’s Sporting Goods
• Kmart
• Sears
• Fred Meyer
“Consumers should not purchase things they do not need. If they need the items, they should research them before purchasing them and know the ballpark basic price,” said Larry A. Connatser, a WalletHub expert and family financial management specialist at the Virginia Cooperative Extension at Virginia State University. “If this happens, the customer will know when a product has been overpriced and them marked down for Black Friday or any other ‘sales’ or ‘marketing trap.’ The customer must be aware of scams and rip-offs. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Consumers can also protect themselves from overspending on Black Friday by setting a budget on spending on Black Friday and other holidays, like Christmas, Connatser said.
“Your budget should have a line item for “Holiday Saving” so that you can save for gifts and special spending on holidays,” he said. “Please be aware of using credit cards for Black Friday sales. Remember, the interest, late fees, credit card fees, etc., may eat up any saving you think you are getting — plus the payment you will have to make after Black Friday will be dollars you will not have to spend for Christmas or New Year’s celebrations.”
For the complete list of the best places for Black Friday savings, go to wallethub.com.