When Long Tails Go Wrong
Concerns with The Long Tail ...
"Sure, I can see how the rise of efficient markets creates Long Tails of expanded variety in most categories. But are there categories where efficient markets could actually create less choice?"
The example given was television sets. At first blush, that doesn't seem like a market that's begging for a huge amount of variety. The TV industry consists of a few different broad technologies (CRT, plasma, LCD, front and rear projection, HDTV, etc), a limited range of sizes, and some variation in quality. Between these types, the average Best Buy carries somewhere between 30 and 50 different TVs, which are chosen to satisfy the most common needs. Is that enough? Does the world really want a zillion different kind of TVs?
Well, the world may not want a huge variety of television types, but that's actually what it 's got. Amazon alone lists 3,200 different kinds of TV sets , which probably just represents a fraction of all the different models and brands actually sold. Why are there so many? After all, they're just screens of a few different sizes; who needs all that confusing choice?
The answer to that question gets at one of the paradoxes of market economics. Sometimes inefficient distribution actually creates more variety, not less. And sometimes the act of making those markets more efficient, which is the core of the Long Tail, actually has the effect of reducing choice." continued ... (Via The Long Tail)
"Sure, I can see how the rise of efficient markets creates Long Tails of expanded variety in most categories. But are there categories where efficient markets could actually create less choice?"
The example given was television sets. At first blush, that doesn't seem like a market that's begging for a huge amount of variety. The TV industry consists of a few different broad technologies (CRT, plasma, LCD, front and rear projection, HDTV, etc), a limited range of sizes, and some variation in quality. Between these types, the average Best Buy carries somewhere between 30 and 50 different TVs, which are chosen to satisfy the most common needs. Is that enough? Does the world really want a zillion different kind of TVs?
Well, the world may not want a huge variety of television types, but that's actually what it 's got. Amazon alone lists 3,200 different kinds of TV sets , which probably just represents a fraction of all the different models and brands actually sold. Why are there so many? After all, they're just screens of a few different sizes; who needs all that confusing choice?
The answer to that question gets at one of the paradoxes of market economics. Sometimes inefficient distribution actually creates more variety, not less. And sometimes the act of making those markets more efficient, which is the core of the Long Tail, actually has the effect of reducing choice." continued ... (Via The Long Tail)
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