Tuesday, June 19, 2007
DVD Service Typifies Long Tail Behavior
A collaboration between Trans World Entertainment and Hewlett-Packard will make a thousands of obscure TV shows and films available for purchase on DVD. The companies are hoping to "out Amazon" the best of the online video stores by making nearly any title available for purchase, usually shipping the DVD the next day.The FYE website offers an extensive list of movies and TV shows, but many of my searches got zero results. Where's the CPO Sharkey, the Hello Larry, the Remote Control? The website also generated several error messages too.
This is the another attempt to purse a niche market (now beaten to death as the "long tail"), which requires a large commitment if you are attempting to be broad and comprehensive. This is what Internet publishers, with the help of search engines, are so good at answering, but when it comes to physical goods like DVDs, the barrier to entry is much higher.
Search engines such as Google define the long tail, enabling you to find information on anything within incredible precision.
The mystery that has yet to be unlocked is how to turn specific queries into additional purchases. How does one keyword relate to other interests, and how do we shift search into browse to expose consumers to other items of interest? Amazon and NetFlix have developed algorithms for relating books and movies, but isn't this an opportunity for search engines as well? Shouldn't a search for "General Tsao's chicken" also provide an opportunity to browse Chinese recipes without repeating the search?
Posted By John Gartner at 10:18 AM
Permanent Link: DVD Service Typifies Long Tail Behavior
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