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The Foodmax Corporation manufactures a line of salad dressings. All are packaged in bottles with ordinary screw tops. Marketing studies conducted by Foodmax indicate, however, that many of Foodmax's customers would prefer bottles with shaker tops, which make it easier to dispense salad dressing in just the quantities wanted. Accordingly, in an effort to increase sales, Foodmax is planning to add bottles with shaker caps to its existing line of salad dressings.
Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the plan's chances for success?
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| The Foodmax Corporation manufactures a line of salad dressings. All are packaged in bottles with ordinary screw tops. |
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| Marketing studies conducted by Foodmax indicate, however, that many of Foodmax's customers would prefer bottles with shaker tops, which make it easier to dispense salad dressing in just the quantities wanted. |
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| Accordingly, in an effort to increase sales, Foodmax is planning to add bottles with shaker caps to its existing line of salad dressings. |
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The argument starts with background about Foodmax's current packaging, then presents research showing customer preference for different packaging, and concludes with a plan to meet that preference to increase sales.
Foodmax should add shaker-top bottles to their salad dressing line to increase sales.
The plan is based on a simple cause-and-effect assumption: since research shows customers prefer shaker tops, offering shaker tops will lead to increased sales. The logic assumes that customer preference directly translates to purchasing behavior.
Weaken - We need to find information that would make us doubt whether adding shaker caps will actually increase sales
The conclusion claims that adding shaker caps to the existing line will increase sales. This is a specific claim about sales growth based on customer preference data.
Look for scenarios that show why customer preference for shaker tops might not translate into increased sales. We need to find gaps between what customers say they want and what actually drives purchasing decisions, or identify practical problems with the plan.
This choice tells us that Foodmax will introduce shaker-top bottles at the same time as a new salad dressing formula. If anything, this could help the plan succeed by creating additional market buzz and giving customers two reasons to try the product. This doesn't cast doubt on the plan - it might even strengthen it by creating more incentive for customers to purchase.
This is our winner! The choice reveals that screw-top bottles lead to faster consumption than shaker-top bottles. Here's why this seriously damages the plan: if customers currently use up their salad dressing quickly with screw tops, they repurchase more frequently. But if we switch to shaker tops that make the dressing last longer, customers will buy less often. Even though customers prefer shaker tops, the slower consumption rate could actually decrease total sales volume. This directly contradicts Foodmax's goal of increasing sales.
This tells us some people transfer their dressing to different containers and therefore prefer screw tops for purchasing. However, the passage already acknowledges that 'many' customers want shaker tops, not 'all' customers. The plan is to 'add' shaker tops to the existing line, not replace screw tops entirely. So customers who prefer screw tops can still buy them. This doesn't really threaten the plan's success.
This says shaker tops cost more to produce, but Foodmax won't charge customers more. While this affects profit margins, it doesn't necessarily prevent sales from increasing. If customer demand for shaker tops is strong enough, higher sales volume could offset the increased production costs. This concerns profitability but doesn't directly challenge whether sales will increase.
This mentions that past sales never reached predicted levels. However, past performance doesn't necessarily predict future results, especially when we're talking about a specific change (adding shaker tops) that addresses a known customer preference. This is too general and doesn't specifically relate to why the shaker-top plan would fail.