Re: Good-bye, Long Tail

["Mark Funk" <mefunk@med.cornell.edu>]

I fail to see how the decision by Borders to use more face-out 
displays is a goodbye to the Long Tail. From the Wikipedia entry 
for Long Tail:

"The phrase The Long Tail (as a proper noun with capitalized 
letters) was first coined by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 
Wired magazine article to describe the niche strategy of certain 
business such as Amazon.com or Netflix. The distribution and 
inventory costs of those business allow them to realize 
significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find 
items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of 
a reduced number of popular items. The group of persons that buy 
the hard-to-find or "non-hit" items is the customer demographic 
called the Long Tail."

Almost by definition, brick and mortar stores are not in the Long 
Tail business. It is online stores like Amazon and Netflix that 
exemplify Long Tail. Most people I know don't browse Amazon--they 
want a book, search for it, and buy it. The new tactic by Borders 
is designed to attract the browser, which is most of their 
business. The WSJ article even states that Borders "plans to 
launch its own Web site by May 3, giving the retailer the ability 
to offer online orders to shoppers who can't find what they want 
in a store." In other words, they're going after the Long Tail 
online.

And while I pondered over Joe's last paragraph, thinking for 
several hours that it was a non sequitur, I think it means that 
he feels scientists are "attracted" to beautifully displayed 
articles in attractive Elsevier and Springer journals. The "plain 
looking" articles in homely open access journals just don't get 
their attention. Therefore Elsevier and Springer will get more 
money. Or something like that... If only scientists searched for 
articles on specific subjects instead of just browsed for 
attractive articles, then open access might work.

For more on Chris Anderson, see his recent article in Wired 
called "Free! Why $0.00 is the Future of Business." 
http://www.wired.com/ techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free

This is guaranteed to blow some minds on this list. He has a book 
on the subject coming out next year.

Mark Funk
Head, Resource Management - Collections
Weill Cornell Medical Library
New York, NY 10065-4805
mefunk@med.cornell.edu

On Mar 14, 2008, at 12:01 AM, Electronic Content Licensing 
Discussion wrote:

> From: "Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>
> Date: March 13, 2008 6:58:51 PM EDT
> To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
> Subject: Good-bye, Long Tail
>
> Interesting (and long-awaited) article in the Wall St. Journal 
> on Borders' decision to reduce the number of titles it stocks 
> in favor of giving fewer titles more prominent display.  WSJ is 
> a subscription site.  The article is dated March 12 and is 
> titled "Borders Tries About-face on Shclves."  The byline is 
> Jeffrey Trachtenberg.
>
>> From the article:
>
> "In a radical move aimed at jump-starting sales, the nation's 
> second-largest book retailer is sharply increasing the number 
> of titles it displays on shelves with the covers face-out. 
> Because that takes up more room than the traditional spine-out 
> style, the new approach will require a typical Borders 
> superstore to shrink its number of titles by 5% to 10%."
>
> The article goes on to note that tests show that when inventory 
> is reduced and fewer titles are supported (but more 
> aggressively), sales rise by 9%. Commentators contacted by the 
> reporter note that people "don't want choice" and that Borders' 
> decision will favor larger publishers.
>
> This is the attention economy at work.  What a windfall open 
> access is for Elsevier and Springer.
>
> Joe Esposito