Last year, in-person shopping was very limited by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time ever, the number of Americans who shopped online on Black Friday passed 100 million, while in-store shopping dropped by 37%. Businesses are largely open to full capacity this year, though, so a resurgence in in-person shopping is expected.
Black Friday sales have also been changing during the past few years. They are starting earlier, weeks ahead of the actual shopping holiday at some stores. That’s good news for consumers who want to stretch out their purchases over a longer period of time rather than buying everything in one day.
So which stores offer the best discounts and for which items?
To answer that question and help consumers maximize their Black Friday savings, WalletHub surveyed nearly 5,000 deals from 21 of the biggest U.S. retailers’ 2021 Black Friday ad scans. Listed below are the stores offering the largest advertised discounts in various product categories such as “Jewelry” and “Appliances.”
| Retailer | 2021 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2020 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2019 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2018 Avg. % Discount by Retailer |
| Macy’s | 58.5% | 56.0% | 46.1% | 48.7% |
| JCPenney | 57.6% | 56.7% | 61.0% | 65.1% |
| Belk | 56.7% | 50.0% | 66.9% | 68.9% |
| Kohl’s | 49.3% | 51.9% | 57.1% | 60.8% |
| Office Depot and OfficeMax | 42.8% | 33.3% | 36.6% | 42.6% |
| Lenovo | 40.3% | 44.1% | 38.6% | 40.1% |
| Nordstrom | 33.2% | 39.0% | 36.9% | N/A |
| Walmart | 31.6% | 27.8% | 34.3% | 29.9% |
| HP | 31.3% | 31.7% | 37.4% | 27.5% |
| Big Lots | 29.2% | 20.0% | 27.9% | 22.9% |
| Amazon | 27.5% | 26.5% | 25.4% | 29.3% |
| Academy Sports + Outdoors | 26.3% | 31.5% | 31.8% | 28.0% |
| BJ’s | 26.1% | N/A | 39.3% | 31.0% |
| Dell Home | 24.3% | 21.3% | 28.6% | 27.4% |
| Target | 22.7% | 28.1% | 34.3% | 34.8% |
| Best Buy | 22.3% | 25.3% | 29.5% | 28.7% |
| Overstock.com | 22.1% | 22.7% | N/A | N/A |
| Costco | 20.5% | 22.0% | 21.3% | 25.1% |
| Newegg | 20.0% | 23.8% | N/A | 28.4% |
| Sam’s Club | 19.1% | 22.6% | N/A | 22.3% |
| Ace Hardware | 11.7% | 8.6% | 11.8% | 21.9% |
| Overall Average | 32.1% | 32.1% | 40.4% | 37.0% |