GMAT Essays (AWA)

Advertising the reduced price of selected grocery items in the Daily Gazette will help you increase your sales. Consider the results of a study conducted last month. Thirty sale items from a store in downtown Marston were advertised in the Gazette for four days. Each time one or more of the 30 items was purchased, clerks asked whether the shopper had read the ad. Two-thirds of the 200 shoppers asked answered in the affirmative. Furthermore, more than half the customers who answered in the affirmative spent over $100 at the store





The author's argument states that the an advertisement in the daily gazette would help you increase sales.The argument is based on the study of thirty items which were advertised in the gazette for 4 days. The argument sounds logically unconvincing. The following essay will point out a number of critical flaws in the argument and suggest ways to strenghthen the argument.
In the argument, the author assumes that just because the shoppers had read the advertisement, meant they were influenced by the advertisement.Perhaps, the study was conducted during a period of economic boom. As a result, a large number of people had good amount of cash and hence there was an increase in spending almost all across the country.So, it was not the advertisement in the gazette but the economic boom that led to increase in sales.
The author provides no evidence to prove that there was actually an increase in sales.The study only states the figures post the advertisement.Nowhere in the argument, the author talks about the sales before the advertisement was published.It is quite possible that even before the advertisement was published, the grocery store had almost the same amount of sales.The author must mention the sales the grocery store had before the advertisement was published.This evidence would streghten the authir's argument.
Another assumption the author makes is that four days of study is good enough a time to make out whether an advertisment in the gazette would lead to increase in sales.A longer duration study would be required to ascertain the conclusion the author claims to be true.The author does not provide enough evidence to prove that the advertisement can consistently lead to incease in sales.
In conclusion, the argument sounds logically convincing at the first glance but a careful analysis reveals that it has number of flaws. As a result, the argument fails to convince the reader.If the author could provide evidence to support the above mentioned assumptions, the argument would be strenghtened.



Experts please rate my argument
Thank you BTG