Editing Long tail (section)

===Demand-side and supply-side drivers===
The key supply-side factor that determines whether a sales distribution has a long tail is the cost of inventory storage and distribution. Where inventory storage and distribution costs are insignificant, it becomes economically viable to sell relatively unpopular products; however, when storage and distribution costs are high, only the most popular products can be sold. For example, a traditional movie rental store has limited shelf space, which it pays for in the form of building [[Business process overhead|overhead]]; to maximize its profits, it must stock only the most popular movies to ensure that no shelf space is wasted. Because online video rental provider (such as [[Amazon.com]] or [[Netflix]]) stocks movies in centralized warehouses, its storage costs are far lower and its distribution costs are the same for a popular or unpopular movie. It is therefore able to build a viable business stocking a far wider range of movies than a traditional movie rental store. Those economics of storage and distribution then enable the advantageous use of the long tail: for example, Netflix finds that in aggregate, "unpopular" movies are rented more than popular movies.

An ''[[MIT Sloan Management Review]]'' article titled "From Niches to Riches: Anatomy of the Long Tail"<ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Erik |last1=Brynjolfsson |first2=Yu "Jeffrey" |last2=Hu |first3=Michael D. |last3=Smith |date=Summer 2006 |title=From Niches to Riches: Anatomy of the Long Tail |url=https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/from-niches-to-riches-anatomy-of-the-long-tail/ |journal=[[MIT Sloan Management Review]] |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=67–71 |ssrn=918142}}</ref> examined the long tail from both the supply side and the demand side and identifies several key drivers. On the supply side, the authors point out how [[e-tailer]]s' expanded, centralized warehousing allows for more offerings, thus making it possible for them to cater to more varied tastes.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Anderson |first=Chris |date=1 July 2006 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Hit |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/longtail_pr.html |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |volume=14 |issue=7}}</ref>

On the demand side, tools such as search engines, recommendation software, and sampling tools are allowing customers to find products outside their geographic area. The authors also look toward the future to discuss second-order, amplified effects of Long Tail, including the growth of markets serving smaller niches.

Not all recommender systems are equal, however, when it comes to expanding the long tail. Some recommenders (i.e. certain collaborative filters) can exhibit a bias toward popular products, creating [[positive feedback]], and actually reduce the long tail. A [[Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania|Wharton]] study details this phenomenon along with several ideas that may promote the long tail and greater diversity.<ref>{{cite journal| last1= Fleder | first1= Daniel | first2= Kartik |last2= Hosanagar | title=Blockbuster Culture's Next Rise or Fall: The Impact of Recommender Systems on Sales Diversity|journal=Management Science |date=May 2009|ssrn=955984 | doi = 10.1287/mnsc.1080.0974 | volume=55 | issue= 5 | pages=697–712| url= http://archive.nyu.edu/handle/2451/28488 }}</ref>

A 2010 study conducted by Wenqi Zhou and Wenjing Duan<ref name="zd-2010"/> further points out that the demand side factor (online user reviews) and the supply side factor (product variety) interplay to influence the long tail formation of user choices. Consumers' reliance on online user reviews to choose products is significantly influenced by the quantity of products available. Specifically, they find that the impacts of both positive and negative user reviews are weakened as product variety goes up. In addition, the increase in product variety reduces the impact of user reviews on popular products more than it does on niche products.