Company X manufactures swim wear and planned to launch a new line of

Question

Company X manufactures swim wear and planned to launch a new line of women’s bathing suits in March, which is typically the peak time of year for swim wear sales. The company conducted consumer polls, which returned favorable results for both style and price, and took out advertisements in major fashion magazines and television stations. Yet the launch was disappointing: sales in March did not exceed even half of the company’s sales during the same period in the previous year.

Each of the following, if true, could explain the disappointing sales of the new swim wear line EXCEPT:

A. None of the stores carrying the new swim wear line displayed it prominently.

B. The company’s manufacturing plants experienced difficulty in obtaining dyes in the advertised colors and so substituted different colors.

C. A major competitor launched a line of similar swim wear at a lower price in February.

D. A scene in which a major actress was to wear one of the new swimsuits in a much anticipated movie to be released in February was never filmed.

E. The prediction of a cool, rainy summer by meteorologists received much attention in the national media.

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The company's new swimsuit line was not as successful as hoped, especially in light of the favorable consumer polling on both style and price. We are asked to find a choice that does NOT explain this surprising outcome. The True/False technique is useful for EXCEPT questions: those which would explain the outcome are labeled True, while the one which would not is labeled False.

(A) True. This could explain the outcome: if the swim wear was not displayed prominently, perhaps customers did not see it.

(B) True. This could explain the outcome: if the colors were not the same as the ones tested, it may be that consumers disliked the new colors they were actually offered.

(C) True. This could explain the outcome: if a competitor offered similar swim wear at a lower price, customers could have purchased the other brand instead.

(D) CORRECT.  False. The poll was based upon style and price, not the idea that a major actress would wear a swimsuit in a film. The fact that the scene was not filmed is irrelevant to the argument.

(E) True. This could explain the outcome: if consumers anticipated a summer of bad weather, they may not have been as eager to buy swim wear in March.

sood1596 · Answer

D - We don't know how this was factored into projected sales. It may not have been, so it may not have an effect on sales.

natp7 · Answer

But by this logic, can't we choose E as well? We don't know what effect weather forecasts may have on swimming gear purchase for pools which may be indoors or outdoors.

Please correct me if I'm wrong

ramlala · Answer

Company X manufactures swim wear and planned to launch a new line of women’s bathing suits in March, which is typically the peak time of year for swim wear sales. The company conducted consumer polls, which returned favorable results for both style and price, and took out advertisements in major fashion magazines and television stations. Yet the launch was disappointing: sales in March did not exceed even half of the company’s sales during the same period in the previous year.

Each of the following, if true, could explain the disappointing sales of the new swim wear line EXCEPT:

A. None of the stores carrying the new swim wear line displayed it prominently.
 This reason may affect the sales.

B. The company’s manufacturing plants experienced difficulty in obtaining dyes in the advertised colors and so substituted different colors.
 This reason may affect the sales.

C. A major competitor launched a line of similar swim wear at a lower price in February.
 This reason may affect the sales.

D. A scene in which a major actress was to wear one of the new swimsuits in a much anticipated movie to be released in February was never filmed.
 Premises does not mentioned this kind of advertising of new swim wear line. Premise mentioned that all the required advertisement is completed for sales.

E. The prediction of a cool, rainy summer by meteorologists received much attention in the national media.
 This reason may affect the sales.

IMO D

jrk23 · Answer

Hello Sir,

Can you please explain on what basis answer "d" is correct. If that new swim suit is not appeared in the much awaited film means audience never came to know about that suit and this will provide explanation for discrepancy. Even people follow actror or actresses in clothing style. so, i think D" can't be the answer. Also, regarding "E" not such prediction of hypothesis can be made.

Plz help.

Thanks

MBAB123 · Answer

Hey  jrk23 , I am no expert but see if it helps. The target customers did not have a problem with the style. They liked the style and this fact is evident in the polls conducted by the company. Also, think about it. How would the consumers know if that that particular actress would be wearing the bathing suit. I mean, what the cast is going to wear isn't really common knowledge among the general public right? Especially for a movie that was never even filmed!

As far as E goes, obviously I wouldn't buy a swimsuit if I know that I won't be swimming. Of course, there are several variables tied to it but swimwear is a pretty seasonal product.

Fdambro294 · Answer

The first thing to do is to define the exact “apparent contradiction” that must be resolved.

The following appears to be a paradox:

The company released swimwear. In polls, the customers liked the swimwear and the company marketed the items. However, the sales were disappointing and much less than what they were last year.

How is it that sales DECLINED after people responded favorably to the new swimwear in polls and advertising money was spent?

What we need to explain is why there is a DECLINE in the sales of swimwear this year. Given the facts provided, we would expect either an increase in sales or, at the very least, equivalent sales.

We would not expect that, after marketing swimwear that customers liked, the company would experience a DECLINE in sales upon release of the new swimwear line.

D “A scene in which a major actress was to wear one of the new swimsuits in a much anticipated movie to be released in February was never filmed.”

In a lot of Explain the Paradox questions, we are essentially looking for an “explanation” (or cause/reason) for the unexpected event.

An unreleased film, even if it did contain a great marketing ploy, can not explain a DECLINE in sales.

If the film were released, it might have helped with sales. But what we are looking for is an explanation for why the sales decreased even though everyone seemed to like the swimwear. Logically, a film that was never seen by consumers could not have led to a decline in sales. Something else must have been at play.

For this reason, D does not explain the apparent paradox.

A - None of the store displaying the new swimwear prominently.

Even though the company did its research and marketed the new items, if not even one store effectively displayed the new swimwear so the customers could see the items, then this could explain a decline in sales compared to last year’s sales.

B - The customers responded favorably in polls based on a certain style. If the company changed the colors before launching the new swimwear, then this fact could explain why sales went down.

C - A major competitor launching a competing brand at the same time could certainly explain a decline in sales.

E - If the customers expect the summer to be cool and rainy, then logically they would hold off on buying new swimwear in March until they are sure they will be able to use it. This event could explain an industry wide decline in sales, affecting the company’s sales as well.

Posted from my mobile device

saghosh1 · Answer

Hi  natp7 ,
People generally buy a swimming costume for outdoor pools or for beaches. 
Therefore, weather forecast for that period will affect the sales.
Also, when we compare the number of indoor pools vs the number of outdoor pools / beaches, the numbers are quite low.

Hence, in this case "D" is the best answer.

krndatta · Answer

KarishmaB  ma'am,

Please throw some light on option D. 
The paradox in the above question is that despite all the advertisements and survey responses, the sales of the swimsuit did not take place. 
Am I correct?

If the actress was to wear the swimsuit in the movie, and the movie was supposed to release in Feb, but this did not happen, then doesn't this explain the drop in sales.

Am not getting the hang of this option. 
Please share your two cents.

Thanks

KarishmaB · Answer

The consumers found the style and price favourable but still did not buy the suits after they were launched. We need to look for reasons because of which consumer expectations were not met. Something happened because of which the product did not live up to their expectations. Given below will be 4 options that will give a reason and one which will not.

A. None of the stores carrying the new swim wear line displayed it prominently.

Helps explain. If the line was not displayed prominently, people may not have come to know about it being available to buy.

B. The company’s manufacturing plants experienced difficulty in obtaining dyes in the advertised colors and so substituted different colors.

Helps explain. People liked the colours advertised. Perhaps the new colours were not to the public's taste.

C. A major competitor launched a line of similar swim wear at a lower price in February.

Helps explain. Since a similar line was offered at lower pricing, people would not have bought the new line.

D. A scene in which a major actress was to wear one of the new swimsuits in a much anticipated movie to be released in February was never filmed.

There are no unmet expectations here. People liked the style and price and were likely to buy. Actress wearing it in an anticipated movie might have just increased the desirability of the suit but people were not expecting the actress to wear it and were not basing their decision to buy on that. They liked the style and pricing. If what people did not know did not happen, it wouldn't change their perception of the suits. Hence this cannot the reason people did not buy the suits.

E. The prediction of a cool, rainy summer by meteorologists received much attention in the national media.

Helps explain. People were perhaps not expecting to need the suit because of cool summers, hence they did not buy it.

Answer (D)

speedemon · Answer

How I see it is that if the movie scene was supposed to be filmed, the consumers anyway would not know whether the actress were to wear the swimsuit or not beforehand, so the scene would have only affected sales had the scene be actually filmed. Since the scene was not filmed, it makes zero difference to the consumers.

Company X manufactures swim wear and planned to launch a new line of

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Company X manufactures swim wear and planned to launch a new line of

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards