Director of TalMart: Our company provides a 90-day without-question re...
Director of TalMart: Our company provides a 90-day without-question return policy on all products sold. Each month on an average, our outlets receive requests for returns on almost 20% of the sales made. It is clear that because of the ‘without question’ clause, our customers have no incentive to make wiser selections. If customers made better selections to begin with, then we would not see most of these products being returned.
Which of the following is required for the argument to hold?
Argument Analysis
Pre-Thinking
Conclusion Clarification
N/A
Pre-Thinking Approach
To pre-think assumptions, let’s see how we can falsify this conclusion. To do so, we will look at the logical structure, focusing on linkages 1 and 2. We will understand the condition under which the conclusion is falsified. The assumption then will be that that condition does not exist. Also note that as we focus on a particular linkage, we will keep the other linkages in mind as well.
Linkage#1
- Falsification Condition: Yes, there is a ‘without question’ clause and returns make up 20% of the sales. But what if that’s not the reason to make unwise selections? TalMart might deal mostly in low value items where customer involvement isn’t high and as a result people don’t spend too much time in choosing items carefully. Or what if customers aren’t even aware of this clause? If this were true, then the intermediate conclusion will be falsified.
- Assumption 1: There are no other reasons behind ‘unwise’ selections.
- Assumption 2: A substantial number of customers are aware of the ‘no question’ clause
Linkage#2 – ‘Without questions’ clause means there is no incentive for customers to make wiser selections
- Falsification Condition: What if the products sold by TalMart were of a low quality? In that case, returns would occur even if customers selected the products more carefully.
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- Assumption 3: The high rate of returns is NOT due to inherent problems with the products, which the customers cannot preempt while making purchasing decisions .
With this understanding in mind, let's take a look at the option statements.
Answer Choices
a
A significant number of customers these days are aware of the return or exchange policy of the stores they make purchases from.
Correct
This choice is written along the lines of Assumption 2 in our pre-thinking (per Linkage #1).
B
Not all customers return products even when they are happy with the quality.
Incorrect - No new information
We already know that returns rate is only 20%, so this option doesn’t provide new information.
C
Most of the customers returning the products return them because they later realise that these products are too expensive for them.
Incorrect - Not a must be true
This choice does act as a strengthener as it reinforces the point about making "wiser decisions"; however, it is not a must be true statement as even if price was not a consideration, the customers could make unwise decisions.
D
Many customers come to the store to exchange the products but end up returning them instead.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
This option tells us how a lot of returns are made but not the reason behind them. We don’t know why customers are coming to the store to exchange the products in the first place.
E
The inherent quality of the products, a factor that the customers cannot successfully gauge at the time of buying, is often a reason for the frequent rate of returns.
Incorrect - Opposite
This option is a weakener as it is written along the lines of the falsification condition mentioned under Linkage #2.