The Long Tail

Chris Anderson first explored the Long Tail in an article in "Wired" magazine that asked the question, "What happens when there is almost unlimited choice?"

In the new, web-powered world of infinite niche markets, everything has become available to everyone and the combined value of the millions of items that only sell in small quantities equals or even exceeds the value of a handful of best-sellers.

Anderson argues that the future of business no longer lie in creating hits - the high-volume end of a traditional demand curve - but in what used to be regarded as misses - the endlessly long tail of that same curve.

As our world is transformed by the Internet, so traditional business models are being overturned and new truths revealed about what consumers want and how they want to get it.

By way of examples, he points top how the world of books has been transformed by Amazon and the record business by iTunes and Rhapsody. And, he argues, a similar transformation is coming to just about every industry imaginable. Wherever you look, modest sellers, niche products and quirky titles are becoming an immensely powerful cumulative force.

This book attempts to predict where business is going and explores the huge opportunities that exist: for new producers, new e-tailers, and new tastemakers. It demonstrates how long tail economics apply to industries ranging from the toy business to advertising to kitchen appliances and sets down the rules for operating in a long tail economy. In other words, it provides a glimpse of a future that's already here.