The long tail is a phenomenon whereby firms can make money by offering a near-limitless selection the term was coined by Chris Anderson, an editor at Wired magazine, and I feel both Amazon and Netflix have a long tail model since they can offer things that many stores don’t carry so there is always something for someone. (Gallaugher)
I feel like Amazon has done a great job of using the long tail method and have a limitless selection of anything someone could ever want or need. I find that I can see things I have never even dreamed about. I only buy books there but it is good to browse.
Amazon “Offer{s} a nearly limitless selection and something interesting happens: there’s actually more money to be made selling the obscure stuff than the hits. At Amazon.com, roughly 60 percent of books sold are titles that aren’t available in even the biggest Borders or Barnes & Noble Superstores”.(Anderson 2004)
“ Amazon.com is a Fortune 500 e-commerce company based in Seattle, WA. Amazon was one of the first big companies to sell goods over the Internet. The company was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, and launched in 1995. They started out as an online bookstore and then quickly diversified by adding other items, such as VHS tapes and DVDs, music CDs, software, video games, electronics, MP3s, clothing, furniture, toys and even food items.”
(Schneider)
“Amazon took its long tail strategy in a totally new direction, offering its Prime customers (those who pay a $79 annual fee for free 2-day shipping) a wide selection of streaming movies and television shows, for free. The move is a direct slap at Netflix, a company that started with a focus on renting hard-to-find, long tail DVDs but which has moved increasingly toward popular blockbusters as its video streaming operations ramp up. Amazon
References: Anderson, (October 2004), “The Long Tail,” Wired 12, no. 10 Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html. Gallaugher, J. Information systems. Schneider, L. (n.d.). Amazon.com company research. Retrieved from http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/companyprofiles/a/Amazon.htm Wunker, S. (2011, Feb 23). Long tail business models -- amazon on offense and defense. Retrieved from http://www.newmarketsadvisors.com/blog/bid/36296/Long-tail-business-models-Amazon-on-offense-and-defense