The owner of a retail electronics store has decided to no longer open

Question

The owner of a retail electronics store has decided to no longer open his store on Sundays. For the past 2 years, the store averaged $925 in total revenue on Sundays on which it was open, while the average expense for keeping the store open on a Sunday was $1,100.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously call into question the store owner's reasoning in deciding to no longer open his store on Sundays?

A. The store's customers frequently order items from the store's website after visiting the store in person.

B. The electronics store generates less profit on Mondays than on Sundays.

C. On five Sundays during the past year, the electronics store generated profits of between $500 and $1,000.

D. Most analysts of retail buying trends believe that the coming year will be a particularly good one for electronics stores that offer online shopping.

E. Sunday has traditionally been a good business day for electronics stores.

NYCgirl15 · Answer

Conclusion: The store should be closed on Sundays.

Evidence: The store's revenue on Sundays has been less than its expenses for staying open.

The author assumes that the effectiveness of staying open on Sundays can be judged by the amount of business done on that day. But if the store has a lot of online business, it's possible that customers who visit on Sunday make their purchase at a later date. The owner needs to factor this into his reasoning; if he doesn't, his reasoning is weakened.

Choice (B) states evidence that might make the owner consider closing Mondays as well, but does not directly weaken his decision to close Sundays. It may be that the store has had a few profitable Sundays, as choice (C) states, but this doesn't change the fact that, on average, the store has lost money on Sundays. For choice (D), without knowing more about how online shopping applies to this store or its customer base, we can't know how this fact would make a difference in considering the store's business hours. Choice (E) mentions what has been the case in the past for some stores, but doesn't deal directly with the present situation for this store.

Choice (A) is correct.

Harley1980 · Answer

A) Customers go in the shop on Sunday and make order on the store's website on Monday. If he close the shop he will lose sales in Monday.  Correct  
B) That's reason for close store on Monday too, but this not weaken decision about Sunday.  Incorrect 
C) This is still less than average keeping expense so shop should be closed.  Incorrect 
D) We don't know if this shop has online shopping.  Incorrect 
E) Common situation in another shops change nothing for this shop.  Incorrect

IanStewart · Answer

The question asks us to attack "the store owner's reasoning", but the question tells us nothing about the owner's reasoning. It tells us only:

• from immediate sales alone, the store loses money on Sunday
• the owner wants to close on Sunday

but it never says that the sales figures are the reason the store owner wants to close shop on Sunday. He might just want a day off.

So I don't like the wording of the question, because it's asking us to be psychic and guess at the "owner's reasoning". But if we assume the owner is closing on Sunday because it seems unprofitable to remain open that day, then we're looking for an answer which might explain why it could be profitable to remain open on Sunday, even if the immediate sales figures do not appear to justify remaining open. Only answer A does that.

I don't like the wording of answer B, which says "The electronics store generates less profit on Mondays than on Sundays." We already know from the stem that the store takes a loss on Sundays, but this answer choice suggests it makes a profit on Sundays. Regardless, answer B is not a good answer. Answer B is a justification for also closing on Mondays, not for remaining open on Sundays.

umg · Answer

Best Option -> A
Here is the reason

Analysis of Stimulus:  Owner will keep the store Closed on Sundays because on Sundays, Avg Revenue = $925 and Avg Expense = $1100.
Average Loss = $175

To weaken this plan, we have to provide the  BEST  reason, among the options given, for why this is a bad idea.

A. The store's customers frequently order items from the store's website after visiting the store in person.
 We can infer that if a customer visits the store on Sunday, he or she will purchase something from them online.

B. The electronics store generates less profit on Mondays than on Sundays.
 1. Owner is incurring a loss on Sundays. Less profits on Mondays will translate to even more losses on Monday.
2. Who is to say that the store stays open on Monday? There is no reason to assume that.
3. Last but not the least, this option is talking about electronics stores in general. Nothing in this option says that this particular store generates...

C. On five Sundays during the past year, the electronics store generated profits of between $500 and $1,000.
 Every year has about 53 Sundays. Therefore, data about 5 Sundays is not enough. Moreover, the 2 year average is a loss of $175.

D. Most analysts of retail buying trends believe that the coming year will be a particularly good one for electronics stores that offer online shopping.
 Out of Scope. Nobody is talking about the future trends.

E. Sunday has traditionally been a good business day for electronics stores.
 Sundays may have been a good business day traditionally but 2 year data revels that store has lost more money than it earned.

Prateek176 · Answer

Harley1980 ,  abhimahna 
Regarding option A, if people need to order online, then it is not necessary that they need to visit the store on Sunday. They might as well visit the store on any other day. Didn't quite understand how the statement serves as a weakener

abhimahna · Answer

Hey  prateek176  ,

I agree to your point. But you are considering only side of the coin. What if they order everything online on the weekdays and then come there to pick up the things on Sundays? Won't that weaken the argument that Let's close the shop on Sunday.

Hence, I know it is not necessary to visit the store on Sunday but we are also not saying that they won't visit on Sunday.

Does that make sense?

OC2910 · Answer

hello experts
please solve my doubt regarding this question: option A says people generally visit the shop in person and then order online 
but this doesn't say they visit more on Sunday . :there is possibility that no one other than the buyers visit on Sundays and people(buyers plus potential buyers) rush more in rest of the days

i feel the argument should have mentioned something like:   though on average equal no of people visit every people visit the store on Sunday but a loss is prevailing

abhimahna · Answer

Hey  StrugglingGmat2910  ,

I agree to your point. We are no where told this. But understand the fact that we need to weaken the argument, hence I can very well assume that there is a slight(if not a lot) possibility that the visits are happening more on Sundays. If that is the case, I am done with my job. The entire argument is broken apart.

Does that make sense?

gvij2017 · Answer

This seems the combo of assumption plus weakening type SC problem. 
It is a single word Sunday which I need to ASSUME in option A to make it WEAKENER for given argument.

Brindac2 · Answer

This answer choices here are vague. 
If we go with A - we need to assume more store visits are happening on sunday than any other day.
If we go with B - we have to assume 'less profit' than Sunday mean more loss on other days than Sunday.
All other options seem quite irrelevant. But if A would say... Customers prefer coming to store on Sunday than that's immediate weakener..

egmat · Answer

The Argument:  Sunday loses  $175  → Owner decides to close on Sundays

Why B is a Trap: 
B says Monday makes less profit than Sunday.
But Sunday is already at  -$175 . So "less profit than Sunday" means Monday loses  even more  money.
 The owner isn't choosing BETWEEN Sunday and Monday.  
He's deciding whether closing Sunday is smart - yes or no.

Simple example: 
You say: "I'm skipping lunch - it costs  $10  but I'm not even that hungry."
 Friend B says:  "Dinner costs more than lunch."
So what? That doesn't change whether skipping lunch is a good idea.

Friend A says:  "But when you skip lunch, you get so hungry that you overspend  $20  at dinner."
 Now  you're rethinking. That's a  hidden cost  you didn't consider.

Same here. Sunday visits → Website orders later → Revenue the owner didn't count.
Closing Sunday doesn't just lose  $925 . It kills the pipeline that generates future sales.

Answer: A

The owner of a retail electronics store has decided to no longer open

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The owner of a retail electronics store has decided to no longer open

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