Advertisement: Grocery prices have increased between three and five

Question

Advertisement: Grocery prices have increased between three and five percent in each of the last five years. This increase is greater than the average salary increase over these years. Protect yourself from spiraling grocery prices by purchasing a Shopper's Mart Discount Club Membership. For a membership fee of just $100 a year, you will receive incredible savings on your groceries.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly indicates that a customer considering purchasing a Shopper's Mart Discount Club Membership will not actually save money by doing so?

A. Some shoppers will only save $50 a year by using a Discount Club Membership.

B. When workers who have retired are removed from the calculation, average salaries have in fact increased by 7% for each of the last five years.

C. Some shoppers purchase only organic produce, which tends to be extremely expensive and is not covered by the Discount Club Membership.

D. Shoppers' mart sells only expensive, gourmet foods and does not stock the basics most consumers need.

E. The discount given by the membership is only a few cents on some items.

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siddhantvarma · Answer

The goal here is to find an answer that will point out a reason why the membership's discounts may not meaningfully offset the $100 annual fee.

A. Some shoppers will only save $50 a year by using a Discount Club Membership.  
 Some  customers may not save enough to cover the $100 membership fee, indicating limited value for those individuals. That does not mean  all  customers will not have potential savings. Eliminate A.

B. When workers who have retired are removed from the calculation, average salaries have in fact increased by 7% for each of the last five years.  
This doesn't address the effectiveness of the Discount Club Membership in saving money on groceries.  Irrelevant  to the argument, eliminate.

C. Some shoppers purchase only organic produce, which tends to be extremely expensive and is not covered by the Discount Club Membership.  
This tells us that customers who primarily buy organic produce may not benefit from the membership. But what about customers who do not buy organic produce? Do most customers buy organic produce? The  effectiveness  of this answer choice  depends  on the answer to these questions that we don't know for sure. Rule out C. s it does not apply to their purchases. However, it does not universally apply to all shoppers.

D. Shoppers' Mart sells only expensive, gourmet foods and does not stock the basics most consumers need.  
If Shoppers' Mart offers only high-priced items, it could mean that even with discounts, customers might end up spending more than they would at other stores for basic groceries. They might end up not purchasing anything from the store at all. This strongly indicates that the membership may not provide savings for typical grocery needs. Keep D.

E. The discount given by the membership is only a few cents on some items.  
This suggests that the discounts provided on  some  items are minimal and may not justify the membership fee. But minimal discount on some items could be offset by huge discount on other items. There's still a chance that customers end up saving $100 overall. Eliminate E.

Since D most strongly indicates that a customer will not save money by purchasing a Shopper's Mart Discount Club Membership because it highlights a fundamental issue with the store's offerings—if they do not stock essential items at reasonable prices, then even discounts will not result in overall savings for consumers looking for basic groceries.

(D) is the correct answer.

Ratanp · Answer

D

It says that shoppers mart discount membership would help in with high grocery prices. And by grocery it means the general everyday grocery we buy, if shoppers mart desn't sell the everyday grocery items we buy, and only sells gourmet and expensive food, it wouldn't us save money.

strictly go by whats given to you as info.

dkpkoti · Answer

Conclusion of Advertisement:  For a membership fee of just $100 a year, you will receive incredible savings on your groceries.

We need to find an answer that weaken this conclusion.

A) INCORRECT - Some customers expenditure may be $50 but there can be other customers whose bill is more and are able to save more than than 100$.
B) INCORRECT - This brings in new information around the fact presented but does not directly weaken the conclusion.
C) INCORRECT - Similar to choice A, it talk about certain segment of customers. Majority may still benefit from the plan. So eliminate.
D) ✅ - This weakens the intended outcome of the plan. If MOST people's daily needs are not stocked by the Mart then, their expenditure will drop down accordingly. The membership cost will not be recovered in this case.
E) INCORRECT - Even if the discount on some item is small, there can be big discounts on other items resulting in overall high discounts. So eliminate.

Bunuel · Answer

Official explanation:

(D) If Shopper's Mart does not stock the groceries that customers need, then a discount is less likely to result in savings for the consumer. Additionally, because the membership requires paying a $100 fee, the customer must save at least this much to realize an overall savings. If the store stocks only niche items and customers cannot save on most of their groceries, this is less likely to happen. This makes choice (D) the correct answer.

Choice (A) states that at least one customer saved only $50 a year. This does not indicate that other customers, in general, will not save money overall.

Choice (B) weakens the background information, which implies that grocery prices are increasing faster than wages, by giving evidence that average salaries are actually increasing more quickly for those who are still in the work force. It does not address whether or not the Discount Club Membership saves money.

Choice (C) does give a reason that the membership may not result in savings on all groceries; but the reason only covers organic produce and only applies to "some" shoppers, which could be as few as one.

Choice (E) is insufficient to weaken the argument without knowing how many (and on which) items the discount is "only a few cents," how much the discount is on other items, and how often consumers purchase both kinds of items. Saving a few ents on something that is purchased thousands of times a year would still result in an overall savings.

Advertisement: Grocery prices have increased between three and five

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Advertisement: Grocery prices have increased between three and five

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