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

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

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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

(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....

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.