"Should You Invest in the Long Tail?"

The article “Should You Invest in the Long Tail?” provides an interesting perspective on the blockbuster “hits” and the niche “misses.” Online access has significantly increased everyone’s ability to find products tailored to their obscure needs which has created the long tail. The article provides evidence that businesses should avoid concentrating on the niche markets and only focus on the blockbuster hits because that’s where all the profits are. After reading the article, the author presented some good points about why businesses should focus on the blockbusters instead of the niches. Obviously the hits are attracted by the majority of the population, which makes high demand for these products. For brick and mortar business, this would and still is the only business model that can provide the most profits. If businesses tried to carry products that are tailored to the small markets, the demand for such products is spread too thinly. The cost of holding that inventory would be too high to be profitable and their simply isn’t enough demand in the local market for those products. This is the reason why that article focuses on businesses pursuing the strategies revolving around the blockbuster hits.

 I am not writing this post to say that businesses shouldn’t operate like that, but, I am saying that I do believe that the long tail of niche products is very profitable for those businesses who can take advantage of having an unlimited online inventory that virtually costs them nothing. By providing endless arrays of products to a market segment the size of the world, which the internet has created, businesses can and do become profitable. Those consumers who navigate themselves through search filters and recommendations find products that suit their individual needs, wants and desires. Those products become a perfect match to those individuals. This creates an ideal experience for those individuals and the internet was able to connect the supply to the demand for that product. Once people begin to navigate away from the blockbuster hits and into the niche marketplace I feel that they would spend most of their time searching for products in the long tail. People get more satisfaction out of products that become custom to a certain niche as opposed to those that purchase products that are tailored to the mass market. I think its experiences like these that keep people away from the head of the demand curve, and focus on the niche markets.