Applecore Children$$s Clothing is a retailer that sells high$-$end clothes for toddlers $($ages $1$ to $3),$ primarily in shopping malls. Applecore also has a successful Internet$-$based sales division. Recently Dave Walker, vice$-$president of the e$-$commerce division, has been given the directive to expand the company$$s Internet sales. walker commissioned a major study on the effectiveness of Internet ads placed on news web sites. The results were favorable: Current patrons who purchased via the Internet and saw the ads on news web sites spent more, on average, than did comparable Internet customers who did not see the ads.

With this new information on Internet ads, Walker continued to investigate how new Internet customers could most effectively be reached. One of these ideas involved strategically purchasing ads on news web sites prior to and during the holiday season. To determine which news sites might be the most effective for ads, Walker conducted a follow$-$up study. An e$-$mail questionnaire was administered to a sample of $1,200$ current Internet customers to ascertain which of $30$ news sites they regularly visit. The idea is that web sites with high proportions of current customer visits would be viable sources of future customers for Applecore products.