A mail order company recently had a big jump in clothing sales after

Question

A mail order company recently had a big jump in clothing sales after hiring a copywriter and a graphic artist to give its clothing catalog a magazinelike format
designed to appeal to a more upscale clientele.

The company’s plan assumes that

(A) other housewares catalogs with magazinelike formats do not already exist

(B) an upscale clientele would be interested in a housewares catalog

(C) the same copywriter and graphic artist could be employed for both the clothing and housewares catalogs

(D) a magazinelike format requires a copywriter and a graphic artist

(E) customers to whom the old clothing catalog appealed would continue to make purchases from catalogs with the new format

veenahe · Accepted Answer

I´m guessting the answer is B.

A mail order company recently had a big jump in clothing sales after hiring a copywriter and a graphic artist to give its clothing catalog a magazinelike format
designed to appeal to a more upscale clientele.

The statement here is that sales increased (attracted more customers) after the company gave the clothes catalog a makeover.

The company is now planning to
launch a housewares catalog using the same concept.

In order to relate the two concepts, the underlying assumption must be the same, i.e., by giving the housewares catalog a similar makeover, the company will attract a more upscale clientele.

The company’s plan assumes that
(A) other housewares catalogs with magazinelike formats do not already exist

Irrelevant to the question since the question didn't arise with the clothing catalog. If this assumption held true, then you would have to assume the same for the clothing catalog.

(B) an upscale clientele would be interested in a housewares catalog 
 Probable answer. Based on the restated sentences above, the clientele may be attracted to the wares based on the new catalog.

(C) the same copywriter and graphic artist could be employed for both the
clothing and housewares catalogs 
 Irrelevant. The artist is not the main topic under discussion.

(D) a magazinelike format requires a copywriter and a graphic artist

Irrelavant. The discussion is not the magazinelike format.

(E) customers to whom the old clothing catalog appealed would continue to make
purchases from catalogs with the new format

This statement doesn't seem to make much sense. If the old clothing catalog were bringing in the same customers, then sales would not have increased significantly.

Please post the OA

ra011y · Answer

(A) other housewares catalogs with magazinelike formats do not already exist

(B) an upscale clientele would be interested in a housewares catalog 
Im going with B.
The company might have designed the catalog for an upscale clientèle but that does not necessarily mean that the online orders came from them too. (There is no mention of this)

(C) the same copywriter and graphic artist could be employed for both the clothing and housewares catalogs
(D) a magazinelike format requires a copywriter and a graphic artist
(E) customers to whom the old clothing catalog appealed would continue to make purchases from catalogs with the new format

Please post OA.

pjalan · Answer

Looks like sales increase was due to the upscale clientele liking the clothing catalog. Using similar concept upscale clientele should like houseware catalog so B.

Tough CR

jeeteshsingh · Answer

A mail order company recently had a big jump in clothing sales after hiring a copywriter and a graphic artist to give its clothing catalog a magazinelike format
designed to appeal to a more upscale clientele. The company is now planning to
launch a housewares catalog using the same concept.
The company’s plan assumes that
(A) other housewares catalogs with magazinelike formats do not already exist
 (B) an upscale clientele would be interested in a housewares catalog 
(C) the same copywriter and graphic artist could be employed for both the
clothing and housewares catalogs
(D) a magazinelike format requires a copywriter and a graphic artist
(E) customers to whom the old clothing catalog appealed would continue to make
purchases from catalogs with the new format

Explanation:
CN = The company is now planning to launch a housewares catalog using the same concept.
P1 = A mail order company recently had a big jump in clothing sales after hiring a copywriter and a graphic artist to give its clothing catalog a magazinelike format designed to appeal to a more upscale clientele.

The company clearly assumes that the upscale clientele would be in housewares catalog similarly they way they accepted the clothing catalog
Its similar to
If X(upscale clientele's appeal) is caused by A(a magazine like format for catalog for clothing) even B(a magazine like format for catalog for housewares) would cause X.

rmangal · Answer

I would guess B.
Sales increase were because of the upscale clientele so it assumes has housewares sales will also increase because of upscale clientele.

garimavyas · Answer

upscale clientele are the target customers when working on a 'similar plan' hence B

nikhilsamuel89 · Answer

IMO B.

(A) other housewares catalogs with magazinelike formats do not already exist.  Irrelevant. Competition is not the issue here. 
(B) an upscale clientele would be interested in a housewares catalog
(C) the same copywriter and graphic artist could be employed for both the clothing and housewares catalogs.  WRONG. Only thing that needs to be the same is the CONCEPT. 
(D) a magazinelike format requires a copywriter and a graphic artist. 
(E) customers to whom the old clothing catalog appealed would continue to make purchases from catalogs with the new format.  Irrelevant. talks about old and new clothing catalogs, not housewares catalog.

B and D are strong contenders, however, will choose D because success of the housewares catalog is not mentioned, so B need not be true.

OA please!

karun0109 · Answer

Clear B in my opinion

D is wrong because nowhere does the plan mention that the company would even use a copywriter and a graphic artist this time. They could very well try to do it themselves after seeing what the copywriter and artist did for the their clothing line.

mysterio · Answer

on negating B and D
B ..an upscale clientele would NOT be interested in a housewares catalog. Hence there would be no subsequent jump in sales following launch of catalog. So conclusion ""company is now planning to launch a housewares catalog  using the same concept " falls apart.

negating D 
 a magazine like format DOES NOT requires a copywriter and a graphic artist. It has no impact on conclusion whether company should launch a houseware catalog in magazine form to attract upscale clientele.

hence correct answer B

btg9788 · Answer

(A) other housewares catalogs with magazinelike formats do not already exist ->
This assumption is out of scope.

(B) an upscale clientele would be interested in a housewares catalog ->
Looks interesting, lets see if anything else is as interesting.

(C) the same copywriter and graphic artist could be employed for both the clothing and housewares catalogs ->
Well, again out of scope, the type of artists employed has nothing to do with the gist of the argument.

(D) a magazinelike format requires a copywriter and a graphic artist ->
This statement is talking more about the magazine formatting rather than the use of the format to woo audiences.

(E) customers to whom the old clothing catalog appealed would continue to make purchases from catalogs with the new format ->
This also can be analyzed. But then the statement ends with houseware catalog. And probably the stem is related to that instead of old clothing buyers..

B looks more convincing.

The NEGATION test on B - IF the company invests, say a million $$$ in creating this fancy catalog, but fails to take into account its consumers'preferences, then it is wasting its resources. From the premise, it appears that the company is trying to make an appeal to upscale clientele. Clearly those folks need to be on the same page for the company's policy to be fruitful....

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A mail order company recently had a big jump in clothing sales after

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A mail order company recently had a big jump in clothing sales after

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