PrepTest 136, Section 4, Question 12
Manager: Our company's mail-order sales have recently increased(32 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AMail-order sales have(11 more words not shown)
- BThe company did(7 more words not shown)
- CThe company's profits(10 more words not shown)
- DThe company's change(12 more words not shown)
- EMost companies offer(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Free shipping on small orders could persuade people to buy. A customer who only wants a $20 item no longer has to pay shipping or fill a cart to reach $50.
But what else changed? A new advertising campaign, a promotion, or better products could also increase sales. The timing makes the shipping explanation plausible; it does not establish that the policy caused the 25 percent increase.
What we’re looking for
To strengthen the manager's argument, I'd look for evidence narrowing those alternatives. Perhaps nothing else changed, or perhaps a surge in orders under $50 shows customers using the new benefit. We need evidence about why sales rose.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This gives us a comparison we did not initially predict. Companies without unlimited free shipping have been losing mail-order sales, while this company gained sales after adopting it. The increase therefore runs against the trend among companies without the policy, making the shipping change a more plausible explanation.
Picture two sales lines over time: those other companies' line slopes down, while this company's line turns up around the policy change. That contrast does not rule out every other difference between the companies. It does, however, make a general upswing in mail-order demand a less convincing account of this company's increase. Strengthening requires that improvement in the evidence, not certainty.
- B
Limited advertising does not show that customers responded to the change. If anything, it raises a question about how many knew of the new benefit. It does not prove nobody knew—customers might learn when ordering—but it gives no positive evidence that the policy caused the increase.
- C
Higher profits are a financial result, not an explanation of why sales increased. A promotion, new products, or another cause could raise both sales and profits. C does not distinguish the shipping policy from those alternative explanations.
- D
The company adopted the policy later than its competitors. That tells us the order in which businesses changed their rules, not how their sales responded. We still need evidence linking this company's change to its increased sales.
- E
Knowing that most companies use a $50 threshold tells us the policy here is different from the usual one. It does not tell us whether customers buy more because of that difference. A is helpful because it adds the missing outcome comparison: sales are falling among companies without unlimited free shipping.
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