Practice Test 6

Purchases of Athletic Footwear
 
In recent years, the market for women’s athletic goods has been growing rapidly. This long-neglected sector of the sports wear market is now one of our leading sources of income, surpassing sales of children’s goods, and while it is not yet equal to sales of men’s goods, it is fast approaching similar levels of sales.
 
This table shows the amount of money spent on women’s athletic footwear from 1994 to 2004. For the purposes of this chart, athletic footwear is defined as footwear made for sports and fitness activities. This includes regular sneakers, as well as “functional” shoes such as running shoes, tennis shoes, aerobics shoes, and basketball boots.
 

 

 
A customer questionnaire was included with each pair of athletic shoes sold in 2004. Although not every questionnaire was filled out and returned, a significant number of these form were submitted. According to the results of the questionnaire, the average woman buys one pair of athletic shoes per year, and uses them for fitness activities such as walking, jogging, or cycling. The majority of respondents indicated that they chose our particular brand for the following reasons: attractive style and design, comfort and affordability. A few respondents did express regret that the range of athletic shoes for women is much smaller than that for men, and that they would like to have greater choice of styles and colors.