GMAT Essays (AWA)

"A recent survey commissioned by the market research department of XY Gen Stores indicated a high level of recognition among consumers of the brand and the nature of the apparel sold in XY Gen Stores. However, the survey also indicated that approximately 60% of those surveyed that recognized the name of XY Gen Stores had never shopped at one of the company's stores. Because of this result, XY Gen Stores executives should launch a significant rebranding and marketing campaign to change the company's image and thereby bring new consumers into the stores."

My response:

Although the claim made by author does have some merit, some issues need to be addressed before the author can make such a claim. The author believes that despite being aware of the brand people do not shop at the store and hence re-branding and marketing needs to be done. The argument is flawed because the author assumes that people are not shopping at the store due to the image of the XY Gen store and that marketing would help solve the issue. The author fails to consider other factors that are playing role in the sales of XY Gen store's products.

The first question that comes to ones mind after reading this argument is that why is there a need for rebranding. The survey does not point out any particular issue with the image of the brand. It is highly possible that people really like the products of XY Gen store but are not buying from stores because the products are very expensive and they cannot afford them. In such a case, re-branding would not help as the the image of the store was never an issue. Instead of addressing the real issue, or making a new survey to find out the real issue, if the company blindly launches a new rebranding campaign then the company might face undue costs and make no new consumers.

Another question that needs to be answered is whether this is a problem with XY Gen stores all over or is it just a problem at some particular town. If it is a problem at some particular town, or in some particular store then one can probe further and see whether there is some issue with the location of the store or whether the staff in that particular store is not helpful and friendly. Presence of a strong competitor in the same area might also indicate a problem.Hence, the overall image of XY Gen store is not important in such a case and other factors are contributing towards the loss of potential customers.

In a nutshell, the claim made by author cannot be completely disregarded as it does have some merit but other factors such as the location of the store, the nature of the staff and the pricing of the brand's products need to be addressed before the author assumes that the loss of potential customers is because of the branding and the image problem of XY Gen store.