The Long Tail

Now this is something I found very interesting. The Long Tail, a diary on its way to a book, which describes the term and the way in which it is used, is a great place to understand business and economic models. The site provides a way for people to express their concern of the damage the internet has had on television, radio, and music sales. This has been an on-going problem for the past five years and I feel soon it will be nonexistent because our society will adapt to these changes.


Alexis makes great points on the importance of the Long Tail. Businesses make money on every product they sell even if the product is not in high demand. These uncommon products keep business alive and prosper. I feel that this is true with all businesses. Movie theaters stay open due to all the movies they show including the ones that do not sell the most tickets, same thing with delis and stores. Chris Anderson, who came up with the term and is in the process of publishing a book on the topic, concentrates on the Long Tail of internet companies. He uses some examples such as netflix and Amazon.com. I can see how this works with Amazon.com because there are so many products sold and a wide variety of products. There is still a high demand for less known books and movies especially sought out through the internet.


Many companies think that if they get rid of products with low demand that they are going to save money but they may be losing money. Although these sales are low they keep the business flowing when the high demand products/new products are lacking. I think that businesses would be more successful if they replaced products quickly and kept a smaller amount of low demand products in stock. According to the global issue website Americans spend about eight billion a year on cosmetics, twelve billion on perfume, and 5 billion on cigarettes. Having a large amount of cosmetics, perfume, and tabacco will keep sales high. This is why a company like Wal-Mart is successful because they carry everything from food, to alcohol, to cigarettes and clothing. It has both low and high demand products selling non-stop. Other students that make great comments on this topic are Meghan, Jessica, and Laura.