Most large retail stores hold sales in the month of January. The original idea of price reduction campaigns in January became popular when it was realized that sales of products would generally slow down following the Christmas rush, were it not for some incentive. The lack of demand could be solved by the simple solution of reducing prices. There is now an increasing tendency among major department stores in large centers to have on their 'January sales' begin before Christmas, sometimes before the end of the calendar year. The idea behind this trend is to endeavor to sell the maximum amount of stock at a profit, even if that may not be at the maximum profit.

Which of the following conclusions cannot be drawn from the above?