Book Review                                                                                

Book: Long-Tail

Library Reference: N/A

Amazon: N/A

Quote: “Popularity no longer has a lock on profitability.”

Learning Expectation: The difference between short-tail and long-tail methods of commerce.

Review:

Almost four years ago, Chris Anderson conjectured that the Internet, with its immense inventories of entertainment materials, would unfetter the world from blockbuster schlock. Anderson, who is the editor of Wired, tagged this concept of his as "the Long Tail," after the figure that our digital desires leave on a graph: When we buy things online, we can reach beyond big hits and into the "tail" of the demand curve, where we're free to coddle our most vague passions. Anderson squabbled that serving our niche interests could also make for booming Web businesses. This was the excitement of the Long Tail – it seemed to offer a way for art and commerce to prosper side-by-side.

I liked the article as it was much more of a communal interpretation than a business manual. It is well-written, with many appealing facts and anecdotes about music, business and ecommerce. It is vital for the large “dotcoms” to know about niche markets and understand how to go after them.

I think Anderson is right because web technology nowadays allows ecommerce sellers to carry substantial inventory, which they can vend to the long tail. This proffers an entirely new market. Conversely, there are restrictions: it is exceedingly expensive to build the technology. At best, the long tail market will account for diffident fraction of revenues. Also, long tail economics is dependent on the economics of computer-based technologies, and this connotes only a handful of companies will contend and survive in the market. These sellers get the profits, but will leave the writers, musicians, and artists who produced the long tail impoverished.

What interests me about the article is that it is not only a very in-depth, particular description of the Long Tail principle, but also marketing implications of the Long Tail.

The Long tail has a couple of central factors that make it the market force that it is today and will grow to be in the future. First, to access a broad amount of products: past and present songs, books and movies. However, not just restricted to entertainment media, we see the long tail in wine, clothing, news and so on. The internet has given us unparalleled ability to access products that have never before been available so quickly and easily.

Second is to access, but just as decisive is being able to sort results, or search, to find what you want. But a consumer must be aware that all of one’s favorite niche music is available, but is useless unless that person can find it. This is where search has become so huge for the long tail. Search, filtering and refining results are all the tools needed to get to specific parts of the long tail.

All of these factors adhere to bring us to an astonishing point in our history. I think The Long Tail as a trend will only increase as products and the ability to find them become more available.

The article is not just edifying, it is mind changing. Once you read about the Long Tail concept, your insight on the world economy and market will never be the same - you will have a deeper glance and a wider reach on the nature of things.

I applaud Anderson for his ground-breaking work on the long-tail theory. His efforts have led to a surge in academic research on how digital technology might be changing markets and, by extension, business principles. I believe it is crucial that managerial decisions are grounded not in romantic notions of the impact of technology, but are based on empirical evidence of what is actually taking place. That is what I set out to uncover in my research, and I hope readers of the Harvard Business Review have found it useful.

What I’ve learned:

                I’ve pretty much learned with eyes wide open in this Long Tail topic. The concept is pretty much clear and it’s true that online retailers indeed outsell their offline counterparts. With playing numbers game and ability to provide materials and products that offline retailers could not possibly stack on their inventory yet may be bought by some other customer in the future is an advantage an offline retailer can never overpower.