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41% of Black Friday items offer no savings, report finds -- here are the best and worst product categories

By Daniel Miller
Published  November 22, 2024 10:34am CST
Consumer
Fox TV Stations
article

FILE-Shoppers line up at the Nintendo Store during "Black Friday" in New York on November 24, 2023, the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. (Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)

The Brief

    • Approximately 41% of goods on Black Friday will not offer savings compared to pre-Black Friday prices.
    • The top categories for Black Friday products are jewelry and apparel and accessories.
    • Toys and consumer electronics were ranked among the worst product categories, according to a recent survey.

Consumers typically view Black Friday as a prime shopping day to find bargains on the top goods on the market. 

Retailers will have plenty of deals for shoppers to choose from after the Thanksgiving holiday, and while they seem good on the surface, a new WalletHub survey explores if these are actually quality deals. 

WalletHub explains in its survey that 41% of goods will not offer savings compared to their pre-Black Friday prices in 2024 and this may factor into why 31% of consumers are planning to spend less during the 2024 holiday season compared to last year.

The personal finance company looked at the best and worst items to buy on Black Friday and to do this they looked at each good’s  Pre-Black Friday Price" by collecting its advertised price on Amazon.com between Oct. 21 and Nov. 18. For certain items, the team collected two prices during that time and in some cases chose the lowest to represent the "Pre-Black Friday Price."

WalletHub then gathered the advertised price on 2024 Black Friday Ads for the same good on Black Friday to figure out the "Black Friday price." 

The team then ranked the goods based on the overall difference in their prices between Oct. 21 and Nov. 18 to find out which products would benefit shoppers the most on Black Friday.

WalletHub also evaluated the best and worst product categories for shoppers. Percentages were calculated based on only the items in each category that matched offers posted on Amazon.com prior to Black Friday. 

Best and worst product categories

Best categories

  1. Jewelry-37%
  2. Apparel and accessories-31%
  3. Consumer packaged goods-28%
  4. Appliances-27%
  5. Furniture-27%

Worst categories 

  1. All other product categories-25%
  2. Toys-23%
  3. Consumer electronics-20%
  4. Computers and phones-19%

How many consumers are expected to shop during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend?

A record 183.4 million people are planning to shop in-store and online during the five-day period, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics. That number is up from a previous record 182 million shoppers in 2023 and 18.1 million people more than five years ago in 2019.

According to the NRF, the main reasons consumers plan to shop during this five-day period are because the deals are too good to pass up (57%), it is tradition (28%) and they like to start holiday shopping over Thanksgiving weekend (24%).

The Source

  • Information for this story was provided by WalletHub and the National Retail Federation.  WalletHub looked at the best and worst items to buy on Black Friday and to do this they looked at each good’s  Pre-Black Friday Price" by collecting its advertised price on Amazon.com between Oct. 21 and Nov. 18.  The team also evaluated the best and worst product categories for shoppers. Percentages were calculated based on only the items in each category that matched offers posted on Amazon.com prior to Black Friday. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.