Black Friday Holiday Shopping Tips

WalletHub’s recent holiday studies and reports highlight several upcoming Black Friday shopping opportunities and no-nos.  Studies show:

Belk, JCPenney and Stage are 2018’s Best Stores for Black Friday, offering an average discount of at least 62.1%.

Over 10% of items will be more expensive on Black Friday than they currently are on Amazon.com.

Jewelry will offer the most value on Black Friday 2018 relative to their current prices, while computers and phones are expected to be the least rewarding deals.

35% of people plan to spend more than $500 on holiday shopping in 2018 vs. 33% last year, according to WalletHub’s 2018 Holiday Shopping Survey.

Disney, iTunes and Visa top the list of 2018’s Best Gift Cards.

Consumers can save $500+ with one of 2018’s Best Credit Cards for Holiday Shopping.

Most consumers already have access to little-known credit card benefits that can really come in handy over the holidays, including price-drop protection and coverage for damaged or stolen items.

All store credit cards do not charge an annual fee, and the average card offering rewards in the form of discounts gives you more than 29% off your first purchase, according to WalletHub’s 2018 Store Card Landscape Report.

Most major retailers offering 0% financing use a dangerous feature called deferred interest, which has the potential to make holiday purchases up to 27.5 times more expensive than expected.