Not too long ago there was a discussion about long tails and the Internet.
The discussion was about the fact that in retail commerce, outlets are likely to have only the top best-selling products. When thinking about these best-selling products as one side of a bell curve distribution the store only carries the top 75% of goods that sell best.
The long tail argument about the Internet was that the Internet could supply the remaining 25% of products and take business away from retail outlets. The warehouse and storage space is in Nevada.
My personal experience, recently, was in looking for three everyday products. The three could not be found in ordinary retail stores in San Francisco. I wanted a bottle of rubber cement, an enzyme pre-wash stick (as opposed to the liquid) and a heat resistant glove for hot objects in the kitchen that was not white (the Ove-glove is off-white). None of these were available.
I had to go online and order from Amazon.
The consequence of this retail ‘No tail’ experience, which is now being carried to an extreme, is that I will automatically go to Amazon from now on.
The shortsightedness of the retail world is going to accelerate their own short remaining lifespan.
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Addendum: I was recently out in the suburbs where I visited several large standalone retail outlets. A quick visit and I found everything I was looking for.. We don’t have these national large stand-alone’s in urban areas.