12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition - Day 1: When brands introduce

Question

12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition with Lots of Fun

When brands introduce a new product, they typically achieve their revenue goals when they have already established a loyal customer base. On average, brands require about two years of delivering consistent results to develop a loyal customer base. Brand Z will soon launch a new environmentally-friendly hair care product. Even though Brand Z is less than two years old, the company believes that it can reach its revenue goals because an environmentally-friendly version of this hair care product is not currently offered by any other company.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the conclusion?

(A) A competitor recently announced that it has a similar product currently under development.

(B) Many other environmentally-friendly hair care companies have far more loyal customer bases than that of Brand Z.

(C) Profits generated by the product will be greatly reduced because a high-cost marketing campaign will be necessary to generate awareness.

(D) Environmentally-conscious consumers conduct exhaustive research into hair care products and, once established, they are unlikely to change their hair care regimens.

(E) In recent focus groups, at least seven participants indicated that they would prefer the environmentally-friendly version of the hair care product to other versions that are not environmentally friendly.

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

Manhattan Prep Official Explanation

Step 1: Identify the Question  
The words  most seriously calls into question  in the question stem indicate that this is a Weaken the Argument question.  To call into question  means to cause doubts.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument  
This argument focuses on Brand Z, a company that is less than two years old; it therefore may not have had enough time yet to develop a loyal customer base, something the argument indicates is important to achieving strong sales of new products. The company still thinks it will reach its revenue goals when releasing a certain new product, though, because no other competitors sell a similar product.

Step 3: Pause and State the Goal  
In Weaken the Argument problems, the goal is to find an answer choice that makes the conclusion less likely to be valid. In this problem, look for an answer choice that casts doubt on whether Brand Z will achieve its revenue goals for its new product.

First, the author indicates that Brand Z is a newer company, so it may not yet have developed a loyal customer base. The author also doesn’t indicate whether Brand Z has researched potential customers’ interest in their new product; maybe competitors aren’t making it because no one wants it.

Step 4: Work From Wrong to Right

(A) A competing product on the market could potentially impact the sales of Brand Z’s new product. However, the competitor’s product is only in development; there is no information as to when it will be released or even whether it will be released.

(B) Whether other companies have loyal customer bases doesn’t impact whether Brand Z’s new product will achieve its revenue goals. It’s possible for Brand Z’s new product to do well even if competitors have loyal customers. It’s also possible for the new product to do poorly.

(C) The argument refers to Brand Z reaching its revenue goals. Although it’s likely that the company also cares about its profits, they are not the focus of the conclusion drawn by this argument.

(D) CORRECT.  This answer choice indicates that Brand Z’s target consumers are unlikely to change their hair care regimen in a shorter period of time. If it takes a long time for demand for the product to develop, it’s at least a little less likely that Brand Z will reach its revenue goals for the new product.

(E) Initially, it seems positive that focus group participants like the product. However, the author omits one critical piece of information: Seven participants out of how many total preferred the new product? For example, 7 out of 8 would be positive, but 7 out of 100 or 1,000 might be disappointing.

ASPRIY · Answer

Hello !
I chose option D because for conclusion to be true we need to prove that the environmentally conscious customers accept and purchase this new version of hair care product. Answer choice (D) specifies that the specific customer base will not be keen on changing their regime, implying they will not adopt the new hair care product, hence breaking the conclusion.

ElninoEffect · Answer

Information from the question stem:
When a new product is launched -- Company can meet its revenue goal if it already has loyal customer base.
To build loyal customer base -- Minimum two years of consistent result is expected from the company.
Brand Z -- launching new product -- Has less than 2years of experience--still expecting in meeting its goals as environmentally-friendly version of this hair care product is not currently offered by any other company.

We need to weaken this reasoning.

(A) A competitor recently announced that it has a similar product currently under development. 
 Timeline is not clear by when they will launch it, also nothing is known about how established the competitor is.

(B) Many other environmentally-friendly hair care companies have far more loyal customer bases than that of Brand Z. 
 Here we are concerned about meeting the revenue goals of brand Z not who has more loyal customers.

(C) Profits generated by the product will be greatly reduced because a high-cost marketing campaign will be necessary to generate awareness.
 We are concerned about reaching the revenue goal not the profit.

(D) Environmentally-conscious consumers conduct exhaustive research into hair care products and, once established, they are unlikely to change their hair care regimens. 
 This seems correct since it takes time to conduct exhaustive research also it's kind of impossible to lure the existing customers. Brand Z might not be able to meet its Revenue goals.

(E) In recent focus groups, at least seven participants indicated that they would prefer the environmentally-friendly version of the hair care product to other versions that are not environmentally friendly.
I rrelevant. Also the number of participants supporting is out of what number is also not given.

Hoozan · Answer

Argument:  When brands introduce a new product, they typically achieve their revenue goals when they have already established a loyal customer base. On average, brands require about two years of delivering consistent results to develop a loyal customer base. Brand Z will soon launch a new environmentally-friendly hair care product. Even though Brand Z is less than two years old, the company believes that it can reach its revenue goals because an environmentally-friendly version of this hair care product is not currently offered by any other company.

(1) Brands achieve their revenue goals when they have an established loyal customer base
(2) To develop this customer base a brand needs to deliver consistent results for two years
(3) Brand Z is confident that it will meet its revenue goals  Despite   being in the market for less than two years (i.e. it is less likely to have a loyal customer base)

Conclusion:  Brand Z believes it will achieve its revenue goals

Why does brand Z predict the above conclusion ?:  because an environmentally-friendly version of this hair care product is not currently offered by any other company.

So while I read the above here is what I am thinking. Hmmm, so because this is "a one of a kind" product available in the market the company believes it will achieve its goals. Interesting...

Question:   Weaken

So we are told that another company is  developing  a similar product. But how is this fact going to hinder Brand Z from achieving its goals? are the customers going to wait for this company to launch its product and thus not purchase brand z? Is the company going to launch this product soon enough or is this product going to stay at the development stage for years to come? We don't know much information to understand how by simply knowing that some other brand is working on a similar product, Brand Z is not going to achieve its revenue goals. Hence, A is irrelevant

Okay, so there are a few competitors that have a loyal customer base advantage. But is this advantage going to stop Brand Z? The argument states that Brand Z's product is the only one out there in the market that has this particular product that is environmentally friendly. Sure, had these competitors manufactured a similar product then Brand Z would be at a disadvantage. But option B provides us with no information to show that the competitors are going to stop Brand Z (and its environmentally friendly product) from reaching its revenue goals. So B is out

The minute I saw "profits" I stopped reading. (well I did read on but I already scratched this option off) why? Because the argument talks about  Revenue  while option C talks about  profits . Sure Brand Z could have low profits BUT that does not mean that it cannot achieve its revenue goals. Take the below example:

Brand Z has a revenue goal of $100k. The marketing (and other costs) is $90k. Now Brand Z launches its product and earns a revenue of $120k with profits of $30k. So we see that the profits are low due to high costs BUT hurray! Brand Z has achieved (and exceeded) its revenue goals of $120k.

This choice for me was an interesting one. Notice the words  unlikely to change their hair care regimens . So what (D) is saying is that no matter what, the target audience that Brand Z is going after is extremely picky and rigid. Once these people fix particular hair care  regimen   they are not going to change. So now Brand Z is in danger. Why? Because though Brand Z has a unique product, its T.G. is unlikely to consider its "one of a kind" product. Option (D) certainly weakens Brands Z's conclusion.

Option (E) kind of strengthens the argument. By stating that there are a few people who would prefer Brand Z over the other (non-eco-friendly) products, this choice makes us believe that Brand Z COULD achieve its revenue goals. Of course, we have no idea how big was this survey. Was it ≥7/10 (greatly strengthens) or ≥7/100 (very weak strengthener)? But nevertheless, this option doesn't hurt the argument.

Answer:  (D)

behlmanmeet · Answer

Question Stem: 
When brands introduce a new product, they typically achieve their revenue goals when they have already established a loyal customer base. On average, brands require about two years of delivering consistent results to develop a loyal customer base. Brand Z will soon launch a new environmentally-friendly hair care product. Even though Brand Z is less than two years old, the company believes that it can reach its revenue goals because an environmentally-friendly version of this hair care product is not currently offered by any other company. Keeping this in mind let's check the answer options.

(A) A competitor recently announced that it has a similar product currently under development.

(B) Many other environmentally-friendly hair care companies have far more loyal customer bases than that of Brand Z.

(C) Profits generated by the product will be greatly reduced because a high-cost marketing campaign will be necessary to generate awareness.

(D) Environmentally-conscious consumers conduct exhaustive research into hair care products and, once established, they are unlikely to change their hair care regimens.

(E) In recent focus groups, at least seven participants indicated that they would prefer the environmentally-friendly version of the hair care product to other versions that are not environmentally friendly.

Solution: The question stem points to a weakener type question. After reading the passage, we can understand that there is a gap here between the conclusion and the premise. Brand Z seems to think that just because no other company provides an environment-friendly version of this hair care product, just by introducing such a product it can achieve its revenue goals even though it's less than 2 years old and presumably does not have a loyal customer base.

(A) A competitor recently announced that it has a similar product currently under development.:: Reading this, there are several questions in my mind, but the biggest one is If the product is under development, how does it affect the revenues of Brand Z, which is going to launch the product? The competitor is not a threat, hence this option is not a weakener.

(B) Many other environmentally-friendly hair care companies have far more loyal customer bases than that of Brand Z.: Many means more than 2. So, it can be 5,10,50, or more companies. But what if 6 environmentally-friendly hair care companies have far more loyal customer bases than that of Brand Z but the other 4,5 or more don't. What if Brand Z needs only 1 or 2 companies' customer bases including their own to reach revenue goals. Then, this statement doesn't hold much weight.

(C) Profits generated by the product will be greatly reduced because a high-cost marketing campaign will be necessary to generate awareness.: Now, granted we do not know what Brand Z's revenue goals are. It can be to break even, generate 10% profit or more, etc. But one thing is sure that this option talks about the after-sale scenario. It talks how profits will be reduced when we have to determine if such a situation is even possible, will they even be able to sell to people. Can they even break even? This might seem more like a strengthener at this point. They are able to sell and also make a profit, though small. For a new brand that's big.

(D) Environmentally-conscious consumers conduct exhaustive research into hair care products and, once established, they are unlikely to change their hair care regimens.: This reaches the heart of the problem. If Brand Z wants to leverage the environmentally conscious side of consumers by providing environmentally friendly version of the hair care product which no other Brand seems to provide, they need willing consumers who would take a liking to their product or a re-motivated by the environmentally friendly version tag. But if such consumers are rarely moved or motivated by new products because they rarely change such products, It calls into question their conclusion. Hence, D forms the correct option.

(E) In recent focus groups, at least seven participants indicated that they would prefer the environmentally-friendly version of the hair care product to other versions that are not environmentally friendly.: If the majority of the people prefer an environmentally-friendly version of the hair care product to other versions that are not environmentally friendly, this is in favor of Brand Z and their conclusion. Their argument is strengthened. Not what we want.

klyn · Answer

QUESTION
When brands introduce a new product, they typically achieve their revenue goals when they have already established a loyal customer base. On average, brands require about two years of delivering consistent results to develop a loyal customer base. Brand Z will soon launch a new environmentally-friendly hair care product. Even though Brand Z is less than two years old, the company believes that it can reach its revenue goals because an environmentally-friendly version of this hair care product is not currently offered by any other company.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the conclusion?

(A) A competitor recently announced that it has a similar product currently under development.

(B) Many other environmentally-friendly hair care companies have far more loyal customer bases than that of Brand Z.

(C) Profits generated by the product will be greatly reduced because a high-cost marketing campaign will be necessary to generate awareness.

(D) Environmentally-conscious consumers conduct exhaustive research into hair care products and, once established, they are unlikely to change their hair care regimens.

(E) In recent focus groups, at least seven participants indicated that they would prefer the environmentally-friendly version of the hair care product to other versions that are not environmentally friendly.

ANSWER
CONCLUSIONS:
1. Brand Z will soon launch a new environmentally-friendly hair care product
2. Brands achieve their revenue goals when they have already established a loyal customer base.
3. Brands require about two years of delivering consistent results to develop a loyal customer base.
4. Brand Z can reach its revenue goals in less than two years because an environmentally-friendly version of its new hair care product is not currently offered by any other company.

ANALYSIS

(A) A competitor recently announced that it has a similar product currently under development (A similar product not an environmentally-friendly product- eliminate A).

(B) Many other environmentally-friendly hair care companies have far more loyal customer bases than that of Brand Z. (This calls into question, conclusion 4, so keep it)

(C) Profits generated by the product will be greatly reduced because a high-cost marketing campaign will be necessary to generate awareness. (This was considered in conclusion 3- eliminate C)

(D) Environmentally-conscious consumers conduct exhaustive research into hair care products and, once established, they are unlikely to change their hair care regimens. ((This was also considered in conclusion 3- eliminate D)

(E) In recent focus groups, at least seven participants indicated that they would prefer the environmentally-friendly version of the hair care product to other versions that are not environmentally friendly. (The survey statistics is incomplete. What percentage of the total survey participants is seven? Seven could be significant or insignificant, so It cannot be used as a basis for a meaningful conclusion- eliminate E)

Option B is the correct answer.

Vishnu0001 · Answer

Here, regarding Option D, does it say that, even though currently, there are no eco-friendly hair care product similar to brand Z, in the market, there is a high chance that the eco-conscious consumers, once established with their non eco-friendly product, still not switch their hair care regime, even if brand Z is offering an eco-friendy alternative??

Anyone?

12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition - Day 1: When brands introduce

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12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition - Day 1: When brands introduce

Prep Toolkit

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