A regional supermarket chain recently installed self-checkout kiosks in half of its stores, resulting in a 15 percent decrease in average customer checkout times at those locations. Management now plans to install identical self-checkout kiosks in all of its remaining stores, concluding that this strategy will decrease average checkout times across the entire chain. Which of the following is an assumption on which the management's conclusion depends?
- ASelf-checkout kiosks cost less to maintain than traditional cashier-staffed checkout lanes.
- Customers at the remaining stores will adopt and use the self-checkout kiosks at a rate sufficient to achieve time savings.Answer
- CReducing customer checkout times will lead directly to an increase in overall customer satisfaction and chain profitability.
- DInstalling self-checkout kiosks is the single most effective method for reducing customer wait times in retail stores.
- ETraditional cashier checkout lanes cause longer wait times primarily because cashiers perform their duties inefficiently.
Answer
The argument depends on the assumption that customers at the remaining stores will adopt and use the self-checkout kiosks at a rate sufficient to achieve time savings.
The conclusion claims that expanding self-checkout kiosks to all remaining stores will reduce checkout times across the whole chain. For this to hold true, the customer base at the remaining stores must actually use the new kiosks. Applying the negation test: if customers at the remaining stores refuse to use the kiosks, the kiosks will sit idle and checkout times will not decrease, causing the argument to collapse.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Identifying Necessary Assumptions using the Negation Test