Anita Elberse

♦ <a href="/2008/06/debating-the-long-tail" target=""> BLOG: Leia a resposta de Chris Anderson, autor de A cauda longa e participe dessa discussão on-line.</a>

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Reprint: R0807H
The blockbuster strategy is a time-honored approach, particularly in media and entertainment. When space is limited on store shelves and in traditional distribution channels, producers tend to focus on a few likely best sellers, hoping that one or two big hits will carry the rest of their lists. But online retailing and the digitization of information goods have changed the commercial landscape: Virtual shelf space is infinite, consumers can search through innumerable options, and the marginal cost of reproducing and distributing products is low. What does that mean for the blockbuster strategy?
In his 2006 book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More, Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine, argues that the sudden availability of niche offerings more closely tailored to their tastes will lure consumers away from homogenized hits. The &#8220;tail&#8221; of the sales distribution curve, he says, will become longer, fatter, and more profitable.
Elberse, a professor at Harvard Business School, set out to investigate whether Anderson&#8217;s long-tail theory is actually playing out in today&#8217;s markets. She focused on the music and home-video industries&#8212;two markets that Anderson and others frequently hold up as examples of the long tail in action&#8212;reviewing sales data from Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen VideoScan, the online music service Rhapsody, and the Australian DVD-by-mail service Quickflix. What she found may surprise you: Blockbusters are capturing even more of the market than they used to, and consumers in the tail don&#8217;t really like niche products much. Elberse outlines the implications of her research for producers and retailers, and offers strategic advice to both groups.

Should You Invest in the Long Tail?

Reimpressão: R0807H A estratégia de sucesso de bilheteria é uma abordagem consagrada pelo tempo, principalmente em mídia e entretenimento. Quando o espaço é limitado nas prateleiras das lojas e nos canais de distribuição tradicionais, os produtores tendem a se concentrar em alguns prováveis best-sellers, esperando que um ou dois grandes sucessos vendam o resto de suas listas. Mas o varejo on-line e a digitalização de bens de informação mudaram o cenário comercial: o espaço nas prateleiras virtuais é infinito, os consumidores podem pesquisar inúmeras opções e o custo marginal de reproduzir e distribuir produtos é baixo. O que isso significa para a estratégia de sucesso de bilheteria? Em seu livro de 2006, A cauda longa: por que o futuro dos negócios está vendendo menos ou mais, Chris Anderson, editor da Com fio A revista, argumenta que a disponibilidade repentina de ofertas de nicho mais adaptadas aos seus gostos afastará os consumidores de sucessos homogeneizados. A “cauda” da curva de distribuição de vendas, diz ele, se tornará mais longa, mais gorda e mais lucrativa. Elberse, professora da Harvard Business School, começou a investigar se a teoria da cauda longa de Anderson está realmente funcionando nos mercados atuais. Ela se concentrou nas indústrias de música e vídeo doméstico — dois mercados que Anderson e outros frequentemente consideram exemplos da longa cauda em ação — analisando dados de vendas da Nielsen SoundScan, da Nielsen VideoScan, do serviço de música on-line Rhapsody e do serviço australiano de DVD por correio Quickflix. O que ela descobriu pode te surpreender: os sucessos de bilheteria estão conquistando ainda mais mercado do que costumavam conquistar, e os consumidores em geral não gostam muito de produtos de nicho. Elberse descreve as implicações de sua pesquisa para produtores e varejistas e oferece conselhos estratégicos para ambos os grupos.

Voc&ecirc; deve investir na cauda longa?

Reprint: R0807H The blockbuster strategy is a time-honored approach, particularly in media and entertainment. When space is limited on store shelves and in traditional distribution channels, producers tend to focus on a few likely best sellers, hoping that one or two big hits will carry the rest of their lists. But online retailing and the digitization of information goods have changed the commercial landscape: Virtual shelf space is infinite, consumers can search through innumerable options, and the marginal cost of reproducing and distributing products is low. What does that mean for the blockbuster strategy? In his 2006 book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More , Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine, argues that the sudden availability of niche offerings more closely tailored to their tastes will lure consumers away from homogenized hits. The “tail” of the sales distribution curve, he says, will become longer, fatter, and more profitable. Elberse, a professor at Harvard Business School, set out to investigate whether Anderson’s long-tail theory is actually playing out in today’s markets. She focused on the music and home-video industries—two markets that Anderson and others frequently hold up as examples of the long tail in action—reviewing sales data from Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen VideoScan, the online music service Rhapsody, and the Australian DVD-by-mail service Quickflix. What she found may surprise you: Blockbusters are capturing even more of the market than they used to, and consumers in the tail don’t really like niche products much. Elberse outlines the implications of her research for producers and retailers, and offers strategic advice to both groups.

Você deve investir na cauda longa?

Resumo.

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