The long tail theory is also called "long tail market" and "long tail effect". So what is a long tail?
The picture above is the model of "Long Tail Theory". The front part is a short head, called short head; The slender part at the back is called the long tail.
Short head is also called economies of scale. What is economies of scale? It is just that some products can be sold many times.
For example, Gree air conditioning. There are several major brands in the air-conditioning market, such as Chunlan, Gree, Oaks, Chigo and Midea. Among them, Gree air conditioners may sell particularly well, which is economies of scale. That is, a product can be sold many times.
Such as fragrant milk tea. I used to see its slogan on TV: sales can circle the earth twice a year. This is also economies of scale.
The long tail is also called scope economy. What is scope economy? That is, although things are sold very little, there are many kinds. This will be explained later.
To sum up, this concept is: economies of scale mean fewer varieties, but more sales; Economies of scope mean selling less, but having more varieties.
For another example, television 20 years ago was an economy of scale. Note that it was 20 years ago. There were several TV programs to watch at that time. Maybe it's big enough for hundreds of millions of people across the country to watch one program.
Nowadays, there are many kinds of Internet users. Some people use the Internet to socialize, some people use the Internet to chat about videos, some people use the Internet to play games, and some people use the Internet to read books ..... so people are separated. There may not be many people in each field, but when they add up to a lot, they form a long tail market.
Then the fields just divided can actually be divided into many categories, such as online reading: some people use WeChat official accounts, some people use headlines, some people use news pages and so on.
Social interaction is the same: some people play QQ, some people play WeChat, some people play Momo, some people play douban, some people play live broadcast and so on.
The TV just mentioned is actually the representative of the era of scale economy, and the current network is more focused on the era of long tail economy.
In order to facilitate further understanding, let's first talk about which enterprises/things are the beneficiaries of the "long tail theory".
1. video website.
Take movies for example. Before the advent of the Internet, movies were sold on CDs.
The reason why many people now say "we owe Master Xing a movie ticket" is because Master Xing made many good movies before, but he didn't make any money. This is because the films at that time were sold in the form of engraving, so how much can they sell?
It's different now. A newly released film can be bought in major cinemas.
Because cinemas are very developed now, you can sell movies in cinemas instead of CDs. For example, in recent years, blockbusters such as Avatar, Wolf Warriors 2, I'm sorry and Wrestle Dad have all reached hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.
However, cinemas also have shortcomings, that is, after a few months or a year, movies will not be shown in cinemas, cinemas will not make money and audiences will not be able to see them.
But at this time there is a network, you can watch it online, and there is a long tail effect. Although these movies have been removed from the cinema, they can still be watched online for free.
In other words, it is the scale effect of the cinema. Everyone can sit together and watch. The cinema can make a lot of money at a time.
This is the long tail effect on the Internet. In the future, if someone thinks of this movie, they will look for it to recharge or watch it for free. A few months later, a few years later, when someone remembers, they can pay to watch it again, so that the film company can make a lot of money by using the long tail effect. Unlike the cinema, it can only sell a few waves of box office, and then it's gone.
2. books.
Books are definitely the beneficiaries of the long tail theory. Generally, physical bookstores only sell popular books, while online bookstores not only have bestsellers, but also can buy very unpopular books. For example, some books from Oracle Bone Inscriptions or textbooks for the third grade of primary school can't be bought in online bookstores.
When a book is first published, it can be bought in a bookstore, and the bookstore can also sell it several times when it sells well, which has scale effect. After a long time, bookstores are all off the shelves, and you can also buy them online, such as JD.COM, Dangdang and Taobao.
As long as someone thinks of this book, they may buy it online one after another. This kind of discontinuous and scattered sales has thus formed a long tail economy.
3. Taobao, Tmall and JD.COM.
Often very unpopular in real life, things that can't be sold can be sold online. Because online shopping malls like Taobao and JD.COM are aimed at more than one billion people in China, if you don't want them, someone will.
Therefore, because the long tail products cover a wide range of people, they should rely on the power of the network.
The slogan of Taobao is called "Universal Taobao" because almost everything can be bought in it.
4. Baidu.
In fact, Baidu is also a beneficiary of the long tail theory.
Most of the advertisements in Baidu are small and medium-sized enterprises. These enterprises can't advertise on such a big platform as CCTV, and the cost is too high to afford. But in Baidu, you can advertise by buying keywords, bidding ranking, etc. And some are only tens of millions, so the cost is relatively cheap.
It stands to reason that these small and medium-sized enterprises are long-tail products. Baidu, on the other hand, can make a lot of money by bringing these small and medium-sized enterprises together.
CCTV, major provincial satellite TV and other platforms are all advertised by some large enterprises, such as Mengniu sponsoring Super Girl and Jiaduobao sponsoring China's good voice.
But more companies don't have the strength to advertise on the big platform, so Baidu can make a fortune with this long tail economy.
5.58 same city.
Yes, that's the magic website. 58 City is also a gathering place for long tail products. There is a moving business, which is relatively rare, and it doesn't have to be moved several times in a few years, so this is a serious low-frequency thing.
Starting a moving company in real life is a bit embarrassing, because few people look for you. But if you put it online, someone will find you. Cities with millions of people, such as Changsha and Chongqing, move when they don't move, so 58 cities can also make money by putting this low-frequency service online.
Put low-frequency services such as moving on the internet for the people of the whole country and the whole city to see. Although few people moved, it added up to a lot.
The above are some examples, hoping to help you understand the long tail theory.
Have a nice weekend.