Best & Worst Retailers for Cyber Week

Black Friday has ended, but the savings continue. If you missed the first round of holiday bargains or caught a second shopping wind, America’s retailers are doing an encore of sales promotions online — and not just on Cyber Monday but all week long.

Meanwhile, our analysts at WalletHub were busy crunching the numbers to find the stores with the most generous Cyber Week discounts. We sifted through more than 3,000 deals from 30 of the largest U.S. retailers to see who’s advertising the highest percentage markdowns in various product categories such as “Jewelry,” “Toys” and “Appliances.”

You can check out the results below and read how we separated the good retailers from the naughty ones in our methodology. Plus, get brilliant shopping wisdom from our retail experts to help you get the biggest bang for your buck. Happy deal hunting!

Main Findings

*4 out of 9 products have a bigger discount during Cyber Week than on Black Friday. The “Normal Discount” period spans Aug. 15 to Oct. 31.

Detailed Findings

Average % Discount by Major Category for Main Retailers

Retailer

Apparel & Accessories

Computers & Phones

Consumer Electronics

Consumer Packaged Goods

Toys

Appliances

AAFES	35.34%	N/A	32.52%	N/A	N/A	N/A
Amazon	61.71%	32.74%	39.37%	N/A	39.22%	41.13%
Belk	54.38%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	51.09%
Best Buy	N/A	14.86%	24.57%	N/A	N/A	32.52%
Bon-Ton	49.47%	N/A	N/A	44.09%	41.81%	41.72%
Cabela's	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CVS Pharmacy	N/A	N/A	N/A	21.47%	N/A	N/A
Dell Home	N/A	29.79%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
eBay	70.65%	33.47%	41.93%	48.21%	20.30%	N/A
Gander Mountain	24.10%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gap	25.57%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Groupon	69.63%	N/A	48.84%	N/A	55.89%	N/A
hhgregg	N/A	11.63%	40.27%	N/A	N/A	32.96%
JCPenney	47.07%	46.82%	42.23%	N/A	27.48%	51.51%
Kmart	57.87%	14.59%	11.29%	N/A	32.45%	31.50%
Kohl's	N/A	39.34%	31.10%	N/A	26.24%	22.73%
Lenovo	N/A	32.95%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Macy's	55.21%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	31.25%
Modell's	28.01%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Office Depot and OfficeMax	N/A	17.97%	39.53%	N/A	N/A	25.75%
Sam's Club	N/A	N/A	28.71%	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sears	67.11%	22.19%	31.27%	N/A	N/A	42.98%
Sports Authority	26.54%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stage	36.43%	38.55%	19.76%	N/A	42.74%	33.37%
Staples	N/A	30.87%	28.37%	39.48%	N/A	41.05%
Target	27.64%	27.25%	30.66%	30.99%	21.91%	33.67%
Toys "R" Us	50.00%	35.15%	32.68%	N/A	31.98%	N/A
Walgreens	N/A	N/A	N/A	23.90%	N/A	N/A
Wal-Mart	32.19%	22.18%	39.24%	N/A	23.60%	29.43%
Lowe's	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	33.94%
Overall Average	45.50%	28.15%	33.08%	34.69%	33.06%	36.04%

Retailer

Furniture

Jewelry

Books, Movies & Music

Video Games (Software Only)

All Other Product Categories

AAFES	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Amazon	N/A	50.00%	N/A	N/A	47.44%
Belk	40.00%	65.81%	N/A	N/A	65.64%
Best Buy	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bon-Ton	64.16%	25.31%	N/A	N/A	61.62%
Cabela's	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	27.08%
CVS Pharmacy	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Dell Home	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
eBay	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gander Mountain	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	11.87%
Gap	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Groupon	44.33%	63.59%	N/A	N/A	68.01%
hhgregg	27.14%	N/A	N/A	N/A	20.23%
JCPenney	57.74%	51.43%	N/A	N/A	58.20%
Kmart	31.26%	73.73%	N/A	N/A	37.51%
Kohl's	38.49%	66.71%	N/A	N/A	35.22%
Lenovo	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Macy's	47.96%	63.48%	N/A	N/A	55.43%
Modell's	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	38.28%
Office Depot and OfficeMax	40.85%	N/A	N/A	N/A	23.48%
Sam's Club	26.96%	N/A	N/A	N/A	31.18%
Sears	N/A	76.54%	N/A	N/A	42.30%
Sports Authority	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	29.76%
Stage	25.16%	25.02%	N/A	N/A	50.01%
Staples	41.89%	N/A	N/A	N/A	36.12%
Target	N/A	N/A	56.67%	N/A	30.71%
Toys "R" Us	25.42%	N/A	N/A	26.04%	25.82%
Walgreens	21.79%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wal-Mart	29.17%	N/A	45.27%	30.19%	41.92%
Lowe's	30.86%	N/A	N/A	N/A	43.88%
Overall Average	37.07%	56.16%	50.97%	28.11%	40.08%

Ask the Experts

Did Black Friday leave you with an even bigger appetite for savings? Heed the advice from our retail experts to help you learn which types of bargains are worth pursuing and keep your holiday budget in check. Click on the experts’ profiles to read their bios and thoughts on the following key questions:

1. How can consumers distinguish between real Cyber Week deals and marketing traps?
2. How can consumers protect themselves from overspending on Cyber Week?
3. Which day do you believe people get the best deals: Black Friday, Cyber Monday or another day? Why?
4. What are some tips for maximizing bargains on Cyber Week?
5. What types of products are better to buy on Cyber Week versus Black Friday?

Ask the Experts

Esther Swilley
Associate Professor of Marketing and L.L. McAninch Chair of Business Administration at Kansas State University, College of Business Administration
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Jie Zhang
Professor of Marketing and Harvey Sanders Fellow of Retail Management in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland
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Daniel Howard
Professor of Marketing in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University
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Selin A. Malkoc
Associate Professor of Marketing in the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis
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Kate Hogenson
Strategic Loyalty Consultant at Kobie Marketing
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Deborah Roedder John
Curtis L. Carlson Chair and Professor of Marketing in the Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota
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More Experts

Methodology

To identify the best retailers for Cyber Week 2015, WalletHub’s analysts surveyed 3,128 deals posted either on the most current Cyber Week ad scans or on the websites of 30 of the biggest U.S. retailers then calculated the average discount that each retailer offers for Cyber Week.

For each item, we weighted the average discount based on its pre-discounted price in order to give more credit to the retailers that are marking down higher-ticket items. Our sample of deals includes only items with discounted prices of at least $20 and excludes those that did not have a calculable percentage discount.

We then organized the deals into 11 product categories such as “Apparel & Accessories,” “Consumer Electronics” and “Video Games.” When calculating the average savings for each category, we took into account only the retailers offering at least 15 discounted items in that particular category.

Our sample of retailers include the following:

Source: Data used to create these rankings were obtained from retailers’ websites and BlackFriday.com.