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 sent over $100 in the store."

The argument that advertising the reduced price for certain grocery items in the newspaper will help increase sales is flawed. The author lacks sufficient evidence to support his assumptions that results of the study are valid.

First, the author does not provide sufficient detail on the actual discount on the items. For example, the store's wholesaler could have raised the cost of the item to the retailer. In order to maintain the normal level of sales, the store would be required to discount the item back to its original price. Even though the product is advertised as being discounted, the price of the product would actually be the same, thus providing little to no benefit to the retailer.

Second, the author does not provide any information about the 200 shoppers who were asked whether they had seen the ad. The 200 shoppers could have been a small fraction of the overall customer base. If the store's daily volume of customers were similar to a Wal-Mart, then the 200 customers would be only a small fraction of the daily customers at the store.

Third, the author states that, "more than half the customers who answered affirmative spent over $100 at the store." The argument assumes that $100 is an increase in the amount of money that is normally spent by customers at the store. What if the store was a high end grocer? The $100 might only be a fraction of what most customers spend.

The author could strengthen his argument by adding additional supporting premises. If the grocery store had an average daily volume of 200 customers, who spent on average $25 per visit, on non discounted items, then the author would have sufficient evidence to support his claims.

The argument that advertising the reduced price for certain grocery items in the newspaper will help increase sales is flawed. The author's lack of sufficient supporting evidence and faulty assumptions allow the reader to question the validity of the argument. If the author were to add additional information about average volume of customers, the average amount of money normally spent, as well as, information on the discounted items, then the argument would be strengthened.