JACKSON, Miss. – The average consumer is expected to spend over $160 on Black Friday. So the question obviously is, where is the best place for you to spend your hard earned cash?
Finance website WalletHub surveyed over 8,000 deals from 35 of the biggest U.S. retailers to identify which stores are offering the biggest discounts.
Overall, Macy’s had the highest discount rate of of 63.35 percent. The lowest discounts were at Big Lots, averaging 23.52 percent discount.
In 2015, in-door spending on Black Friday was $67.6 million, according to StatisticBrain. Dr. Chad Miller is an economist at the University of Southern Mississippi talked about the importance of the holiday season on the american economy.
“Consumer spending makes up a huge part of the U.S economy and if consumers aren’t spending, then dollars are not flowing through the system the way they should be,” said Miller.
Consumer spending this holiday season is expected to reach $656 billion this year. That’s up from $631 billion from the year before.
“If people do not shop at Christmas or make it up in other parts of the year, then that would be a huge blow to our economy,” said Miller.
In-store purchases aren’t the only things expected to boom on Friday. Last year, online purchases reached close to $3 billion, with cyber Monday bringing in an additional $2 billion.
Dr. Miller said that the benefits of shoppers buying during the holiday season has trickle down effects on the economy as a whole.
“Christmas and Black Friday if it gets people to spend more than they usually [spend], as long as they are not going into debt, then it allows the economy to keep working and create the jobs through the multiplayer system.”
The top ten retailers for Black Friday discounts are:
1. Macy’s
2. Stage
3. JCPenny
4. Harbor Freight
5. Gordmans
6. Kohl’s
7. Shopko
8. Fred Meyer
9. Craft Warehouse
10. Sears
