Americans are obsessed with deals, especially when it comes to Black Friday. Over the years, this annual shopping phenomenon has grown to become an unofficial holiday for many Americans. The truth is that many of us find pleasure in buying merchandise at the deepest discounts and knowing we beat our fellow sale-addicted shoppers to the punch. In fact, 122.7 million Americans shopped in person on Black Friday last year, while 130.2 million made purchases online.
While Black Friday is traditionally associated with the best prices relative to the rest of the year, we should pause from our spending and ask how good of a deal we are really getting. As it turns out, 35% of items will offer no savings compared to their pre-Black Friday prices this year. According to WalletHub’s holiday shopping survey, 28% of American consumers are planning to spend less during the 2023 holiday season relative to 2022.
To separate myth from fact, WalletHub compared pre-Black Friday prices to actual Black Friday “sale” prices for a broad selection of items. Using the price difference of each item, we isolated the offers that are truly worth the hassle of participating in America’s biggest shopping craze.
Best Deals Overall
What to Buy on Black Friday
Hasee Z8 (15.6'', i7-11800H, RTX3060), Gaming Laptop, i7-11800H 4.6GHz, 16G DDR4 RAM, 512G NVMe PCIe4.0 SSD, RTX3060 6G GDDR6, 15.6'' 144Hz 1920x1080 FHD IPS Display, RGB KB, WF, BT, Win11, Ore Black | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $800 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $1,450 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $650 Newegg |
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Osaki OS-4D Pro Maestro Massage Chair - Ivory (1694681) Model (OS-4D Pro Maestro BE) | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $5,000 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $8,999 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $3,999 Costco |
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Kenmore 600 Series Bagged Canister Vacuum with Pet PowerMate - Blue (216877) Model (BC4026) | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $230 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $388 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $158 BJ's |
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Night Owl - 10 Channel 6 Camera Wireless 2K 1TB NVR Security System - White (BTWN81-F4-6L) | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $400 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $580 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $180 Best Buy |
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Clinique Moisture Surge™ 100H Auto-Replenishing Hydrator Moisturizer, UPC: 0192333066935, 1.7 Oz | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $32 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $120 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $88 Belk |
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Dyson - HP01 Pure Hot + Cool Air Purifier, Heater and Fan - White/Silver (311383-01) | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $380 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $549 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $169 Best Buy |
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Inspiron 27 All-in-One, 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1355U (12 MB cache, 10 cores, 12 threads, up to 5.00 GHz Turbo), Windows 11 Home, NVIDIA® GeForce® MX550, 2 GB GDDR6, 32 GB: 2 x 16 GB, DDR4, 3200 MT/s, RPM, HDD (storage), 1 TB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD, 27", FHD, 1920x1080, 60Hz, White, Order Code useiahbts7720gdsx | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $1,300 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $1,629 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $329 Dell |
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Blackstone 17-in. Tabletop Griddle, 14.7"H x 21.6"W x 20.5"D, SKU #65034698 | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $100 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $180 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $80 Kohl's |
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Sealy Essentials 12-Inch Soft Support Gel Memory Foam Mattress-in-a-Box with Copperchill Infused Gel Foam and Soft-Knit Fabric Cover, Twin XL | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $340 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $730 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $390 Target |
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Samsonite Ziplite 5 Hardside Spinner Luggage 20 Carryon - Silver SKU #50826507 | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $100 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $210 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $110 Kohl's |
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Energizer 960W MAX Portable Power Station, LiFePO4 (LFP), Solar Generator, 110V/700W Pure Sine Wave AC Outlet, USB-C PD 100W, w/ Case, LED, Outdoor, Home Emergency, Power Outage, RV, Camping, CPAP | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $590 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $700 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $110 Newegg |
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MICHAEL ARAM Butterfly Ginkgo Medium Vase (1208855) | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $356 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $789 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $433 Macy's |
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Steve Silver Yorktown II Dining 5pc Set (Table and 4 Side Chairs) - 16479680 | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $299 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $503 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $204 Macy's |
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SULLIVANS 14 in. H Multi-color LED Bottlebrush Trees On Base (322051447) Model (TR1127) | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $57 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $104 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $47 The Home Depot |
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LG 70" Class 4K UHD Smart LED TV - 70UQ7590PUB | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $580 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $797 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $217 Target |
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Sperry® Intrepid Boat Shoes | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $25 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $130 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $105 Belk |
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Skullcandy Hesh ANC Noise Canceling on-Ear Wireless Headphones, True Black S6HHW-N740 | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $49 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $150 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $101 Walmart |
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Power Pony Powered Rideable Pony Ride-On - Champ | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $400 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $499 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $99 Target |
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Netvue Bird Feeder with Camera Netvue Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder with Free AI Identification, Blue (AI+Solar) | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $170 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $280 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $110 Walmart |
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Insignia™ - 21 Cu. Ft. Garage Ready Convertible Upright Freezer - White (NS-UZ21WH0) | |
Black Friday Price After Discount: $750 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $1,200 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $450 Best Buy |
*Depending on an item, our research team collected one or more of its advertised prices between Oct. 17 and Nov. 14. The “Pre-Black Friday Price” is the lowest of those prices for each item.
In-Depth Look at Best Black Friday Items
Best Clothing Deal - Sperry® Intrepid Boat Shoes at Belk
The best Black Friday clothing deal of 2023 is a pair of Sperry® Intrepid Boat Shoes sold at Belk, going from a pre-Black Friday price of $129.99 all the way down to $24.99, for a savings of $105 (80.8% off). You might not be able to wear them until summer, but you get a huge deal in the offseason!
Best Consumer Packaged Goods Deal - 1.7 Oz. Clinique Moisture Surge™ 100H Auto-Replenishing Hydrator Moisturizer at Belk
The best Black Friday deal for consumer packaged goods is this normally-expensive moisturizer from Clinique. It typically retails for $119.99 for a 1.7 ounce bottle but is marked down to $32.20 for Black Friday, offering $87.79 in savings (73.2% off). If you’ve ever wanted to try out luxury skincare without breaking the bank, this is a good opportunity.
Best Appliance Deal - Insignia™ - 21 Cu. Ft. Garage Ready Convertible Upright Freezer (White) at Best Buy
Freezers are normally very costly, with this one going for $1,199.99 under normal conditions. But if you swing by Best Buy on Black Friday, you’ll be able to snag it for $749.99, saving yourself a cool $450 (37.5% off).
Best Consumer Electronics Deal - Night Owl - 10 Channel 6 Camera Wireless 2K 1TB NVR Security System (White) at Best Buy
Ensuring safety in your home is priceless, but it gets a lot cheaper on Black Friday. This security system that’s normally $579.99 will be on sale at Best Buy for $399.99, which is $180 off (31% savings).
Best Computer or Phone Deal - Inspiron 27 All-in-One, 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1355U from Dell
Many people wait for Black Friday deals to pick up a new computer, and you can get this PC for $1,299.99 instead of the usual price of $1,629 at Dell. That saves you $329.01 (20.2%) on a computer with Windows 11, 32 gigs of RAM and a 1 terabyte solid state drive.
Best Furniture Deal - Osaki OS-4D Pro Maestro Massage Chair (Ivory) from Costco
You’ll need a Costco membership to pick this item up, but if you’re in the market for a fancy massage chair, joining might be worth it. You can get this item for $4,999.99, compared to the normal price of $8,999. That saves you $3,999.01 (44.4%).
Best & Worst Product Categories
Percentages were calculated based on only the items in each category that matched offers posted on Amazon.com prior to Black Friday.
Share of Good Deals by Retailer
Below is a comparison of retailers according to the percentage of “good” deals they offer — that is, compared with the same products from Amazon.com. If the price offered by retailers is lower than the price on Amazon.com, this was considered a good deal, with the opposite representing a bad deal. Please note that complete data were not available for some items and therefore were excluded from our analysis.
Top 5 Deals by Retailer
*Depending on an item, our research team collected one or more of its advertised prices between Oct. 17 and Nov. 14. The “Pre-Black Friday Price” is the lowest of those prices for each item.
**A negative value indicates that a shopper would spend less by waiting until Black Friday to purchase the item.
Ask the Experts
Black Friday deals may seem like an early holiday gift for consumers, but that isn’t always the case. We asked a panel of experts to share some insider secrets for Black Friday shoppers. Click on the experts’ profiles below to read their bios and responses to the following key questions:
- What types of products are better to buy on Black Friday versus other times of the year?
- Should most consumers ignore promotional deals where retailers provide deep discounts on a limited stock of an item? How can consumers judge if these doorbusters are worth the race to snag a deal?
- What is a good strategy in identifying the best deals on Black Friday?
- All things considered, are Black Friday discounts worth the hassle?
- What items do you think will be in higher demand this year compared to previous years?
Ask the Experts
Methodology
In order to determine the best and worst items to buy on Black Friday, WalletHub first determined each item’s “Pre-Black Friday Price” by collecting its advertised price on Amazon.com between Oct. 17 and Nov. 14. For certain items, we collected two prices during that period and in such cases chose the lowest to represent the “Pre-Black Friday Price.”
We then collected the advertised price on 2023 Black Friday Ads for the same item on Black Friday in order to determine its “Black Friday Price.” Our sample excludes deals that did not have calculable percentage markdowns.
Finally, we ranked the items according to the overall difference in their prices between the two dates and determined which products would pay off the most for a shopper’s Black Friday hassle.
Sources: Data used to conduct this study were collected from each retailer’s official website, BlackFriday.com and Amazon.com.
WalletHub experts are widely quoted. Contact our media team to schedule an interview.