A hardware store generally

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct75% picked this

   For the first several seconds after shoppers enter a store, they do not take detailed notice

   Why this is right

   This points out something bad about being moved to "just inside the store entrance". If we customers have blinders on when we first enter a store, then we're not really noticing any of the products advertised up front in display cases. We're checking out the attractiveness of the cashier, or we're looking ahead at the signs hanging in the aisles to determine which aisle we want to go to. If someone walked into this store with "tunnel vision" and walked straight to the hammer aisle, then they would end up buying a Styron, because those hammers were still in the hammer aisle. Their competitor (the Maxlast) had all been moved to the front, so now we're standing in the hammer aisle and we just pick up a Styron.

   Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   75%
2. B

   Too Weak21% picked this

   Most of the hardware store's customers are attracted by quality and service rather

   This answer helps to explain why a sale price might not do that much good for Maxlast, but one would still think that prominently displaying the Maxlast at the front of the store in a display case would still have helped sales. And if people don't care about low prices (which we'll pretend means "sale prices"), then we'd still expect Maxlast and Styron to perform essentially the same as before, whereas the paradox involves Maxlast actually selling slightly worse than before. This answer doesn't have any way to explain why Maxlast would be selling somewhat worse than before.

   21%
3. C

   Deepens Paradox1% picked this

   Customers who bought the Maxlast hammers last week commonly mentioned the sale as their reason for buying a

   This makes it sound like the sale price was an attractive causal difference-maker in some people's purchases, so now we're even more confused why Maxlast on sale ended up doing worse than Styron at regular price.

   1%
4. D

   Deepens Paradox0% picked this

   The hardware store circulated flyers that publicized the sale prices on

   One possible way to explain why the sale price didn't seem to help Maxlast sales would be to say, "No one realized it was even on sale!" But this answer removes that possible explanation. The sale was well hyped, so we're even more confused why it didn't work and even seemed to slightly backfire.

   0%
5. E

   No Impact3% picked this

   In general, a single item that is on sale will not motivate shoppers to make a special

   We were never talking about whether someone would or wouldn't be motivated to take a trip to the hardware store. We were just looking at the typical flow of customers, typical buying behavior. If the typical flow + buying behavior had Maxlast and Styron performing about equally, then how did giving Maxlast a lower price and more prominent display end up being slightly worse?

   3%