Around the Net

The 'Tail' May Not Wag The Web

Chris Anderson's "The Long Tail," the new most-talked-about book on commerce and marketing, is supposedly shedding light on the way the Web is changing things. But Wall Street Journal columnist Lee Gomes disagrees: "I don't think things are changing as much as he does," he says. Anderson's argument is that traditional companies are limited by retail space--only the "hot" items sell, so several thousand others, with a smaller demand, fall by the wayside. On the Web, companies like Amazon can carry a bigger inventory of slower-selling items. Anderson calls these "misses"; they make up the "long tail" of the title and add up to a big number. The idea is that this number could be even bigger than the combined sale of hot or "hit" items. One of his principles, the "98 Percent Rule," claims that no matter how much inventory you put online, somebody will buy it. That rule doesn't hold up when you consider online stores, Gomes counters. Real Networks' Rhapsody music service shows that 22 percent of its music catalog receives a quarterly no-play rate; another 19 percent, just one or two plays. If you consider Amazon.com, the Web's largest retailer, 75 percent of its revenues come from 2.7 percent of its titles. That's far more than the 25 percent that comes from its massive "long tail" inventory. So much for the long tail amounting to more than the combined sale of "hit" items.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription only) »

Next story loading loading..