Black Friday: Which stores really have the biggest discounts?

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We’re now full-on in the thick of the lead up to Black Friday, which in some ways has become just as important for shoppers as the day itself.

That’s because the sales now start earlier and the retailers know they have to put up or shut up with deep discounts — or risk losing the all-out battle for your holiday shopping dollar.

So which stores are offering the absolutely deepest discounts?

RELATED: Stores with free shipping for the holidays: Amazon vs. Walmart vs. Target vs. Best Buy

These stores have the biggest Black Friday price cuts

WalletHub took a look at nearly 7,000 deals from 35 of the biggest U.S. retailers’ 2018 Black Friday ads so it could find the deepest discounts in a variety of hot product categories.

Retailers with the biggest price cuts on Black Friday

The Top 5 retailers offering the biggest average discount are:

Store Discount
Belk 68.91%
JCPenney 65.13%
Stage* 62.08%
Kohl’s 60.76%
New York & Company 54.52%

* includes Stage, Bealls, Goody’s, Palais Royal and Peebles

Here’s where you’ll find the biggest discounts by product category

Electronics, clothing and toys are among the hottest gifts every Christmas.

Here’s a look at where WalletHub says you’ll be better off spending your money this Black Friday if any of these items are on your list:

Black Friday discounts of 40% to 50% on consumer electronics

Retailer Discount
Fred Meyer 51.96%
Academy Sports 46.28%
Staples 42.26%

Apparel discounts of up to 60% on Black Friday

Store Discount
Meijer 63.84%
JC Penney 62.99%
Belk 61.86%
Stage 59.65%

Black Friday discounts of 40% to 50% on toys

Retailer Discount
Stage 55.78%
Belk 53.89%
JC Penney 47.41%
Jet.com 43.91%

Now, we’ve also thrown in a couple of other categories like furniture and jewelry where you can really save big bucks.

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The savings on these categories are eye-popping!

Furniture discounts of 60% to 70% on Black Friday

Store Discount
J.C. Penney 72.37%
Shopko 60.34%

And we saved the best for last…

Get up to 78% off jewelry on Black Friday! 

Retailer Discount
Sears 78.83%
Stage 74.30%
J.C. Penney 70.83%

Wow, those are some GIANT savings!

Here are a couple ways to make Black Friday even more rewarding this year! 

As if the great savings weren’t enough, you can make Black Friday benefit your wallet in even greater ways this year if you follow this advice!

Consider buying a pre-owned gift card

Want to save even more on Black Friday? Buy a pre-owned gift card from an online marketplace like CardCash.com, CardPool.com and MonsterGiftCard.com, among others, that specializes in gift card resale.

For example, right now we’re seeing discounts of up to nearly 7% off JC Penney gift cards and up to 8% off Belk gift cards. That means, in theory, you could buy a $100 Belk gift card for just $92!

All pre-owned gift cards are guaranteed to work for anywhere from 90 days to one year, depending on the reseller’s rules.

By the way, this tip works both ways; if you get a gift card to a store you don’t want this year, you can turn it into cash! Here’s how.

Get free company stock at the stores where you’re shopping 

Have you heard of an app called Bumped? With Bumped, you get a small share of company stock each time you make a purchase at one of your favorite retailers, restaurants or e-commerce sites.

For example, you could get 1% back in JC Penney or Walmart stock or 0.5% back in Amazon stock. Those are just a few examples of the many retailers that Bumped works.

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We’ve got a full explanation of how the service works here. However, because Bumped is in beta, you have to join a wait list. There’s a good chance you may not get your invitation to join before Black Friday. But you’ve still got the rest of the holiday shopping season left!

Check out these other Black Friday articles from Clark.com:

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