Black Friday remains one of the most popular holiday shopping traditions in the U.S., but it’s not without its challenges. Shoppers often face early mornings, long lines, and crowded stores all in pursuit of the best deals. In 2024, however, more Americans shopped from home than in stores, with 87.3 million making purchases online compared to 81.7 million million shopping in person.
In recent years, Black Friday sales have also started earlier, with some retailers launching holiday deals as early as October. This gives shoppers the opportunity to spread out their purchases over several weeks instead of trying to buy everything in a single day.
Curious which stores offer the best deals on specific items? To help consumers maximize their savings, WalletHub analyzed over 3,100 deals from 13 of the largest U.S. retailers’ 2025 Black Friday ad scans. Below, we highlight the stores offering the biggest advertised discounts across popular categories like jewelry, appliances, and more.
Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst
Best Places to Shop on Black Friday
| Retailer | 2025 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2024 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2023 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2022 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2021 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2020 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2019 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2018 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2017 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2016 Avg. % Discount by Retailer | 2015 Avg. % Discount by Retailer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JCPenney | 74.08% | 76.20% | 59.12% | 64.71% | 57.63% | 56.71% | 60.97% | 65.13% | 66.30% | 62.79% | 68.00% |
| Belk | 72.42% | 72.68% | 54.76% | 64.23% | 56.69% | 50.01% | 66.92% | 68.91% | 62.75% | N/A | 59.47% |
| Kohl's | 45.39% | 43.55% | 48.81% | 44.23% | 49.32% | 51.87% | 57.10% | 60.76% | 66.32% | 58.15% | 66.65% |
| Macy's | 44.46% | 57.13% | 58.19% | 53.05% | 58.51% | 55.97% | 46.12% | 48.74% | 45.58% | 63.35% | 56.00% |
| The Home Depot | 35.63% | 32.43% | 20.82% | 30.90% | N/A | 32.07% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 31.43% |
| BJ's | 31.26% | 28.86% | 30.11% | 27.61% | 26.14% | N/A | 39.30% | 30.96% | 32.06% | 31.98% | 30.61% |
| Amazon | 29.63% | 32.05% | 28.48% | 25.71% | 27.49% | 26.47% | 25.41% | 29.32% | 36.76% | 24.73% | 25.78% |
| Target | 29.36% | 28.65% | 32.70% | 32.87% | 22.68% | 28.13% | 34.25% | 34.77% | 36.23% | 28.56% | 37.35% |
| Newegg | 28.80% | 20.65% | 22.43% | 28.46% | 20.00% | 23.76% | N/A | 28.35% | 28.31% | N/A | N/A |
| Best Buy | 28.58% | 28.43% | 29.78% | 22.93% | 22.26% | 25.32% | 29.47% | 28.75% | 29.95% | 33.19% | 33.47% |
| Walmart | 28.54% | 37.75% | 26.88% | 28.39% | 31.60% | 27.79% | 34.32% | 29.89% | 34.17% | 32.65% | 30.07% |
| Dell | 19.94% | 19.36% | 25.79% | N/A | N/A | 21.34% | 28.58% | 27.35% | 29.32% | 35.70% | 35.35% |
| Costco | 15.08% | 18.27% | 17.07% | 16.80% | 20.50% | 21.98% | 21.30% | 25.12% | 21.86% | 25.40% | 19.47% |
| All retailers | 37.17% | 38.15% | 34.99% | 37.15% | 32.45% | 32.15% | 40.37% | 36.95% | 37.15% | 39.00% | 40.22% |
In-Depth Look at the Best Black Friday Retailers in 2025
JCPenney
JCPenney is the best place to shop on Black Friday because it offers an average discount of 74.1%. This is the seventh time JCPenney has earned the top spot in this report since 2014.
JCPenney offers some steep discounts on extremely expensive items this year, too. If you’re ready to propose to that special someone, you can get a $14,583.32 diamond engagement ring for just $3,999.99. In addition to significant markdowns on jewelry and apparel, JCPenney has great deals on appliances, offering savings of 57.6% on average.
Belk
Belk is the second-best Black Friday retailer, even though it only has physical locations in 16 states, much fewer than the other top two stores. At Belk, you’ll receive an average of 72.4% off your purchases, and you can still take advantage of deals online if you don’t have a location near you.
If you’re in the market for jewelry, you’ll definitely want to consider Belk on Black Friday. You can save an average of 77.7%, which is considerably more than the average jewelry discount offered among all stores (42.2%). Other good categories to shop for at Belk include apparel and appliances such as Refrigerators, Microwaves and Vacuums.
Kohl’s
Kohl’s has the third-best Black Friday discounts this year, saving you an average of 45.4% and as much as 68.8% on certain items. The store’s best deals by far are on apparel & accessories, which will be 53.5% off, on average.
Kohl’s is also known for its appliances selection, and that’s the second-best product category for Kohl’s Black Friday discounts, with items marked down by an average of 42.4%.
Notes:
- The pie chart above displays the product categories in which discounts are more heavily concentrated, represented in percentage terms. The percentages do not represent average discounts.
- The bar graph above displays the average discount percentage for each product category.
Average Store Discounts by Product Category
| Retailer | Apparel & Accessories | Computers & Phones | Consumer Electronics | Consumer Packaged Goods | Toys |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 29.66% | 38.91% | 29.27% | 20.28% | 21.40% |
| Belk | 50.04% | N/A | N/A | 33.00% | N/A |
| Best Buy | N/A | 25.91% | 30.59% | N/A | N/A |
| BJ's | 14.69% | 25.11% | 35.49% | N/A | 12.07% |
| Costco | 20.58% | 24.34% | 2.11% | 21.85% | N/A |
| Dell | N/A | 19.94% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| JCPenney | 47.12% | N/A | N/A | 32.38% | 56.48% |
| Kohl's | 53.54% | N/A | 38.00% | N/A | 37.05% |
| Macy's | 37.51% | 19.34% | 11.37% | N/A | 39.68% |
| Newegg | N/A | 24.47% | 32.09% | N/A | N/A |
| Target | N/A | 23.98% | 13.60% | N/A | 34.97% |
| The Home Depot | N/A | N/A | 32.68% | N/A | N/A |
| Walmart | 36.87% | 46.72% | 18.77% | 14.62% | 17.93% |
| Overall Average | 36.25% | 27.64% | 24.40% | 24.42% | 31.37% |
| Retailer | Appliances | Furniture | Jewelry | All Other Product Categories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 29.05% | 21.24% | 22.97% | 29.63% |
| Belk | 52.58% | N/A | 77.66% | 65.39% |
| Best Buy | 29.79% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| BJ's | 25.13% | 33.33% | 25.00% | 20.59% |
| Costco | 21.97% | 25.32% | 19.29% | 21.99% |
| Dell | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| JCPenney | 57.63% | N/A | 74.51% | 65.99% |
| Kohl's | 42.40% | N/A | N/A | 55.46% |
| Macy's | 34.02% | 40.02% | 57.05% | 57.35% |
| Newegg | N/A | 61.66% | N/A | N/A |
| Target | 34.33% | 28.32% | N/A | 47.94% |
| The Home Depot | 37.44% | 41.02% | N/A | 19.32% |
| Walmart | 29.24% | 27.10% | 18.67% | 35.53% |
| Overall Average | 35.78% | 34.75% | 42.16% | 41.92% |
Ask the Experts
Finding the real deals among the marketing-ploys can be challenging, especially with all the different Black Friday sales out there. We asked several experts to share some of their shopping smarts with budget-conscious consumers. Click on the experts’ profiles to read their bios and thoughts on the following key questions:
- How can consumers distinguish between real Black Friday deals and marketing traps?
- How can consumers protect themselves from overspending on Black Friday?
- Which day do you believe people get the best deals: Black Friday, Cyber Monday or another day? Why?
- What tips do you have for maximizing bargains on Black Friday?
- What types of products are better to buy on Black Friday versus Cyber Monday?
Ask the Experts
Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Retailing, College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, University of South Carolina
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Marketing Faculty, Questrom School of Business and BU School of Hospitality Administration - Boston University
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Adjunct Lecturer, Lehman College, Division of CUNY
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Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing - California State University Dominguez Hills
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Ph.D., MBA - Professor of Marketing, School of Management - New York Institute of Technology
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Associate Professor of Marketing, Austin E. Cofrin School Of Business, The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
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Methodology
In order to determine the retailers offering the most money-saving bargains this coming Black Friday, WalletHub surveyed over 3,100 deals from 13 of the biggest U.S. retailers’ 2025 Black Friday ad scans and calculated the average discount that each retailer plans to offer. The average discount was weighted based on the pre-discounted price of the item to give more credit to the retailers discounting higher-ticket items. Our sample excludes deals that did not have calculable percentage markdowns.
We then organized the deals into 9 product categories such as “Apparel & Accessories,” “Consumer Electronics” and “Appliances.” When calculating the category averages, we took into account only the retailers that had at least five discounted items in that particular category.
For this report, we examined the following 13 retailers:
- Amazon
- Belk
- Best Buy
- BJ's
- Costco
- Dell
- JCPenney
- Kohl's
- Macy's
- Newegg
- Target
- The Home Depot
- Walmart
Amazon did not provide all the requested info for all their Black Friday deals. As a result, some deals could not be included in our calculations. A total of 180 deals were included.
This year, many retailers have opted to release several rounds of markdowns throughout the month of November, changing their Black Friday deals on a weekly basis. All Black Friday data collected for this analysis are current as of November 15, 2025.
Sources: Data used to conduct this study were collected from each retailer’s official website and BlackFriday.com.
WalletHub experts are widely quoted. Contact our media team to schedule an interview.