A.A.

Question:

2 (Source: GMAT Review book, Ch.10)

The following appeared in the opinion column of a financial magazine.

On average, middle-aged consumers devote 39 percent of their retail expenditure to
department store products and services, while for younger consumers the average is
only 25 percent. Since the number of middle-aged people will increase dramatically
within the next decade, department stores can expect retail sales to increase
significantly during that period. Furthermore, to take advantage of the trend, these stores
should begin to replace some of those products intended to attract the younger
consumer with products intended to attract the middle-aged consumer."
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze
the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may
need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what
alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also
discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in
the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you
better evaluate its conclusion.

A.A. Answer:

The above mentioned argument that the number of middle-aged people is expected
to dramatically increase and so department stores should as a result expect a
remarkable increase in retail sales lacks some important evidence and should be
supplemented with more reliable and convincing elements of confirmation.
First, the argument does not provide us with precise and accurate numbers concerning
how they got the percentages of retail expenditures that is devoted to department store
products and services by the two age categories. If the sample of middle-aged people
was greater than the sample of the younger people, the statistics would be flawed and
useless. Second, the argument assumes a perfect positive correlation between the
increase in the number of middle-aged people and the increase in department store
retail sales. While this relationship might be true, the argument omits significant details
that might weaken the conclusion or even contradict it. To elaborate, middle-aged people
are more likely to have jobs and generate a personal income and while it is only
common to expect them to allocate more retail expenditures to department stores
products and services, middle-aged people are also perceived as more conservative and
cost oriented and would tend to save most of their income rather than spending it on
products and services. Finally, the conclusion that department stores should consider
replacing products that attract younger people with products to attract middle aged ones
is only as weak and as nave since most of middle aged people have families to take
care of, they probably would buy more products to their children or siblings (younger
people) rather than themselves.

To conclude, this argument was not based on a solid argumentation and was mostly
limited. And so It should be supplemented with more convincible evidence and
indications and supported with some material facts in order to improve its standing.