Best Black Friday deals this year

Black Friday, with often the best sales of the year, is coming up next week.

In 2023, Black Friday sales drew 76.2 million Americans to shop in person and 90.6 million to shop online.

The most important thing to do for Black Friday deals is to continually do price comparisons. As I’ve said for years about sales: marked way up, marked way down.

Corporations and businesses take advantage of consumers who aren’t aware of what the regular prices for items are. They increase the price, then make up a “sale” price that looks darn good. I’ve been caught a time or two myself.

On Wednesday, WalletHub, a personal-finance website, released its report on the “Best Places to Shop on Black Friday in 2024” to help consumers maximize their savings.

Best Black Friday Retailers (Average Discount)
1. JCPenney (76.20%)	6. The Home Depot (32.43%)
2. Belk (72.68%)	7. Amazon (32.05%)
3. Macy’s (57.13%)	8. BJ’s (28.86%)
4. Kohl's (43.55%)	9. Target (28.65%)
5. Walmart (37.75%)	10. Best Buy (28.43%)

Key findings from the report

• JCPenney has the highest overall discount rate, at 76.20 percent, and Costco has the lowest at 18.27 percent
   
• The overall average discount for Black Friday is 38 percent. Consumers should aim for this discount amount or higher to avoid Black Friday traps.
   
• The “Computers & Phones” category has one of the biggest shares of discounted items, 29.32 percent of all offers, and the “Consumer Packaged Goods” category has the smallest at 2.43 percent.

“The best Black Friday deals can save you up to 88% this year, but when you’re bombarded by ads and there are so many places to shop, it can be hard to decide where to actually spend your money,” Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst, said in a statement. “Knowing which retailers actually offer significant deals compared to their normal prices can save you a lot of time and prevent buyer’s remorse.”

This year, the stores offering the top deals are JCPenney, Belk, and Macy’s, Lupo said.

To prevent overspending, make a budget.

“The worst thing you could do is start to put big purchases on credit cards with high interest charges,” said Chad O’Connor, marketing professor at Northeastern University. “If you can’t afford to pay it off right away, you should really reconsider if it’s necessary or come up with alternative financing for it.”

O’Conner suggests making a list of what are needs, something broken in the house, versus things that would be nice to have.

In addition, try to think of flexible options for gift giving and put together a budget of how much you’re looking to spend per person for holiday gifts and hold yourself to it, he said.

Happy Black Friday shopping. Last year, I bought a new kitchen stove that I love at a discount and the year before an Apple laptop.

Comments

[Carol Cassara]

Love these posts each year.

[Rita]

Thanks. I'd like to buy a new camera, but I don't know if I have the time to do the research during the Black Friday period.