Black Friday not a strong draw for Manitoba deal-seekers, expert says

This year's Black Friday deals in the United States may not be enough to sendsome Manitobans across the border, as the low loonie is making some deals look like duds, says a local expert on consumer behaviour.

The slumping Canadian dollar means it's unlikely shoppers will find deep discounts in the U.S.compared to when the loonie was at par, said Subbu Sivaramakrishnan, associate dean of marketing with the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba.

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Sivaramakrishnan said the exchange rate and duty charges will have an impact on what he called "utilitarian shoppers" who seek good deals for items they need, especially if Canadian retailers offer their own Black Friday sales.

"For them, it may not be worth it going down south this year," he told CBC's Information Radio on Tuesday.

"But then there are the hedonic ones, for whom shopping is recreation, so they take pleasure out of shopping. They don't care as much about the prices they pay, and for those shoppers it's already, say, a shopping vacation."

Sivaramakrishnan added that online shoppers may not find great deals with American retailers, either, once duty and shipping costs are factored in.

Many Canadian retailers likely won't feel pressuredto drop their prices to match U.S. retailers this Black Friday, perhapsexcept for stores located very close to the Canada-U.S. border, he said.

As well, new products especially the latest technology likely won't be on sale, either, he said.

"There's always some people that are willing to pay an arm and a leg to get that latest iPhone 6s. So in those kinds of products, you're not going to find deep discounts," he said.

"If you take something like a 1080p TV, you're going to find some great deals there, but if you're looking for that ultra-high-definition 4K curved TV, you might find some, but not a whole lot."