Black Friday Deals Deja Vu: Some Of 2014’s Deals Are Back

Black Friday is approaching fast, and shoppers are getting ready by looking for all the best deals. Those who felt like they might have missed out on a deal last year may be pleasantly surprised because some of last year’s deals are back. Researchers found in a new study that about 11% of this year’s Black Friday deals are repeats of last year’s deals.

Not all Black Friday deals are new

WalletHub released this year’s “Black Friday Freshness Report” this morning. The firm’s researchers examined the Black Friday deals that have been advertised so far by some of the largest retailers in the U.S. On average, 11.2% of this year’s deals are the same as the deals that were offered last year. In some cases, this runs counter to the claims retailers usually make around Black Friday, which is that the deals won’t be back. Of course in most cases this is true, but clearly not always.

The firm found that the retailer with the highest percentage of the best deals this year is Big Lots (BIG), followed by Costco (COST) hot on its heels. Interestingly, Big Lots has actually raised the prices of the Black Friday “deals” that are being repeated this year. Costco, on the other hand, has reduced prices on these items even further, as have Best Buy (BBY) and Ace Hardware (ACEHF), which are next on the list of retailers with the highest percentages of repeated deals. Here’s a look at WalletHub’s full list:

As you can see, J.C. Penney (JCP), which is desperately working to regain the loyalty it previously held among some groups of customers, is toward the bottom of the list in percentages of repeated deals, although the company has raised the prices on those deals by nearly 9%.

Black Friday deals are not improving

Retailers also tend to promise each year that their Black Friday deals are the best ever, but that just doesn’t seem to be the case either. Another recent survey on holiday shopping conducted by BestBlackFriday.com found that 81% of those who participated do not believe that Black Friday deals are improving from past years.