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10 retailers with highest Black Friday discounts
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Black Friday has gained popularity over the years with people frantic to do some major bargain shopping for Christmas. If you are planning to brave the cold and the crowds this year, here are the top stores with the biggest savings, according to a recent study. - photo by Faith Heaton Jolley
Black Friday has gained popularity over the years with people frantic to do some major bargain shopping for Christmas. If you are planning to brave the cold and the crowds this year, here are the top stores with the biggest savings, according to a recent study.

With total holiday spending projected to reach $630.5 billion this year, personal finance website, WalletHub, conducted an in-depth analysis to uncover the best and worst retailers for Black Friday deals. WalletHub analysts surveyed 8,000 deals from 30 of the biggest U.S. retailers Black Friday ads to find out which companies offered the largest advertised discounts for each product category.

During the survey, WalletHub analysts calculated the average discount that each retailer plans to offer on its deals. The average discount was weighted based on the pre-discounted price of the item in order to give more credit to the retailers that are discounting higher-ticket items. The products were separated by type with 11 categories total.

If you want the biggest bang for your buck, here are the retailers offering the highest overall discount rates this Black Friday, according to the survey:

JC Penney: 68 percent

Kohls: 67 percent

Stage: 64 percent

Groupon: 64 percent

Belk: 60 percent

Macys: 56 percent

Kmart: 50 percent

Panasonic: 47 percent

Fred Meyer: 45 percent

Office Depot and OfficeMax: 43 percent

At 20 percent, Costco ranked lowest in discount rates for Black Friday deals; however, because the retailer sells in bulk, many of the items are already offered at a discounted rate.

The WalletHub survey also found that jewelry is the most discounted category for Black Friday deals, at 73 percent. Computers and phones are the least discounted items at 31 percent. The toy category had the biggest number of discounted items, representing 23 percent of all the Black Friday offers, according to WalletHub. The consumer packaged goods category had the smallest number of discounted items, only making up 1.4 percent of all deals.

The study found that the overall average discount for Black Friday deals is 40 percent, so consumers should aim for that or greater to actually get a good deal and avoid a Black Friday sales trap.

Click here to see the full study.