Comments on: The two-minute tail http://twopointouch.com/2006/web-2-0/the-two-minute-tail/ web 2.0, blogs and social media Mon, 30 May 2011 20:58:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: David Cruickshankhttp://twopointouch.com/2006/web-2-0/the-two-minute-tail/#comment-225 David Cruickshank Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:48:14 +0000 http://twopointouch.com/2006/08/16/the-two-minute-tail/#comment-225 Niche Web 2.0 opportunity ALERT. KnittyWiki.com. Genius And it's available! Niche Web 2.0 opportunity ALERT. KnittyWiki.com. Genius

And it’s available!

]]> By: Ian Delaneyhttp://twopointouch.com/2006/web-2-0/the-two-minute-tail/#comment-220 Ian Delaney Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:13:52 +0000 http://twopointouch.com/2006/08/16/the-two-minute-tail/#comment-220 Dave, sewing machines are a passion for me. Believe it or not, I was going exactly where you said on the aggregation point when I decided to cut the post short. (No-one likes long posts). I believe that all the hardware stuff is already outsourced. Probably a lot of the other things are too, and why not, so long as they can deliver Amazon's great customer service? Maybe the lamentable lack of sewing machines is more to do with the fact that the power of Amazon is in the reader reviews, lists, blogs and (recently) wikis? They actively generate buzz (or the users do) around products, niche and mainstream. From my intense research into the market, the sewing machine community is a bit quiet online, so less amenable to that approach. Dave, sewing machines are a passion for me.

Believe it or not, I was going exactly where you said on the aggregation point when I decided to cut the post short. (No-one likes long posts). I believe that all the hardware stuff is already outsourced. Probably a lot of the other things are too, and why not, so long as they can deliver Amazon’s great customer service? Maybe the lamentable lack of sewing machines is more to do with the fact that the power of Amazon is in the reader reviews, lists, blogs and (recently) wikis? They actively generate buzz (or the users do) around products, niche and mainstream.

From my intense research into the market, the sewing machine community is a bit quiet online, so less amenable to that approach.

]]> By: David Cruickshankhttp://twopointouch.com/2006/web-2-0/the-two-minute-tail/#comment-219 David Cruickshank Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:38:23 +0000 http://twopointouch.com/2006/08/16/the-two-minute-tail/#comment-219 I still think Amazon should adopt a Long Tail approach with sewing machines. I'm pretty sure they've got enough clout now not to have to stock anything. Why don't they advertise all sewing machines and just route the orders to a reliable supplier for them to fulfill the orders? I'm fairly certain they do that with a lot of their other products. The issue is, as you say, with the supply chain costs. As Amazon has the eye-balls, why wouldn't they sell every product on the planet (rather those that can be reasonably and profitably sourced from a reliable supplier)? Simply route the orders to the suppliers and have them fulfill the orders and then take a cut on every sale. Given what you say about sewing machines (and I trust your reputation for deep research :-) ) then it would seem that either Amazon does not buy into the Long Tail philosophy completely, or that reliable sewing machine manufacturers are difficult (read not profitable) to source, or that it's not a particularly exciting product area for them (most likely - but then why sell any?) I still think Amazon should adopt a Long Tail approach with sewing machines. I’m pretty sure they’ve got enough clout now not to have to stock anything. Why don’t they advertise all sewing machines and just route the orders to a reliable supplier for them to fulfill the orders? I’m fairly certain they do that with a lot of their other products.

The issue is, as you say, with the supply chain costs. As Amazon has the eye-balls, why wouldn’t they sell every product on the planet (rather those that can be reasonably and profitably sourced from a reliable supplier)? Simply route the orders to the suppliers and have them fulfill the orders and then take a cut on every sale.

Given what you say about sewing machines (and I trust your reputation for deep research :-) ) then it would seem that either Amazon does not buy into the Long Tail philosophy completely, or that reliable sewing machine manufacturers are difficult (read not profitable) to source, or that it’s not a particularly exciting product area for them (most likely — but then why sell any?)

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