By: Adaeze & Michelle

The Long Tail

HOW ENDLESS CHOICE IS CREATING UNLIMITED DEMAND: Chris Anderson

• Wired Magazine definition of the long tail. It’s the myriad of the niche products whose collective market share can rival the blockbusters.

• The long tail is when selling less of more can be just as profitable as selling more of less

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More

What the long tail looks like

• Before the Industrial Revolution, most culture was local. There was an earlier era of niche culture defined by geography.

• Culture was fragmented because of the lack of rapid transportation and communication and this limited cultural mixing, new ideas and trends.

• The early 19th era of modern industry and the growth of the railroad system led to massive waves of urbanization.

The Rise of the Hit

• In mid 19th century several technologies emerged. These technologies led to the first great wave of popular culture.

• As technology grew so did the ability for culture, ideas and trends to reach further places, creating a greater demand for popular culture

MAKE IT, GET IT OUT THERE AND HELP ME FIND IT

• Our culture and economy are increasingly shifting away from a focus of a relatively small number of hits at the head of the demand curve, but moving towards a huge number of niches in the tail.

• In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space, narrowly targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare.

The Three Forces of the Long Tail

Force 1: Democratizing the tools of production• giving everyone the capacity to create = More stuff which

lengthens the tail.

Force 2: Cutting the cost of consumption by democratizing distribution• anyone can make content so others can enjoy it. the Internet

has made everyone a distributor = More access to niches, which flattens the tail

Force 3: Connecting supply and demand• Introducing customers to these new available goods and

driving demand down the tail = Drives businesses from hits to niches

• For example when researching for Fifa 06 – a 5 year old game was available on Amazon we found that the game was very much available.

• However, when we searched for Fifa 06 on HMV it was unavailable.

• This is because Amazon is able to provide dated products as it has the means to. It establishes a long tail system whereas, HMV more likely will provide mainstream in demand products.

Availability

• American History X is a movie that came out in 1998 when searching for the DVD on HMV online and at the store it wasn’t available.

• However, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (2001); the first of the harry potter films to come out 10 years ago was available online and at the store.

• Casablanca (1942) is arguably one of the best films of all time and although an old movie that would most likely have a niche target market the DVD was available at HMV. This is because of its worldwide appeal.

DVDS

The mass of niche

Online vs. Store

The power of the customer

The End Of Inventory

• Thus the economic efficiencies of dealing only in bites wouldn’t just be extended in the long tail but also improving the economics of the head, where there are far more pounds at stake.

• This is needless to say a powerful attraction and will only accelerate the adoption of the technology.

The conclusion of the long tail