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Understanding the long tail - why small customers are vital to web success

David Soskin CEO Cheapflights.co.uk 1 st May 2007. Understanding the long tail - why small customers are vital to web success. Agenda:. What is the long tail? Why vertical and “Web 2.0” search extend the long tail Outlook for “long tail” – orientated companies.

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Understanding the long tail - why small customers are vital to web success

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  1. David Soskin CEOCheapflights.co.uk 1st May 2007 Understanding the long tail - why small customers are vital to web success

  2. Agenda: • What is the long tail? • Why vertical and “Web 2.0” search extend the long tail • Outlook for “long tail” – orientated companies

  3. Acknowledgement to Chris Anderson

  4. Typical Blockbuster: 3,000 DVDs Typical Borders Bookstore: 100,000 books The new growth market: Products you can’t find anywhere but online Source: Chris Anderson

  5. Britannica vs.Wikipedia 64,900 7,000,000 * Source: www.amazon.com & en.wikipedia.org

  6. Aggregators Communities/ user generated content Advertising services Information Transactional Digital goods

  7. The long tail: The root calculus “the lower the costs of selling, the more you can sell. As such, aggregators are a manifestation of the second force, democratizing distribution. They all lower the barrier to market entry, allowing more and more things to cross that bar and get out there to find their audience.” Chris Anderson Source: The Long Tail

  8. Crap vs. choice Old economy: crap matters New economy: choice matters

  9. Book Sales (USA), 2004 Source: Book Industry Study Group

  10. Google:Ultimate long tail company? “By going to the bottom with self-service, we were able to reach advertisers who fell below the threshold of traditional advertising. And by going all the way to the top, we were able to capture very large and historically underserved businesses as well as a whole new area that never had access to these kinds of online services.” Eric Schmidt, CEO Google Source: The Long Tail

  11. But how good is Google search? “The ultimate search engine would basically understand everything in the world, and it would always give you the right thing. And we're a long, long ways from that.” - Larry Page, Google Co-Founder “Search as a problem is only about 5% solved” - Udi Manber, CEO of Amazon’s A9.com search engine “It's clear there's a lot of room for improvement, there's no inherent ceiling we're hitting up on.” - Sergey Brin, Google Co-Founder

  12. Search can get a lot better… Horizontal Search Vertical Search

  13. Cheapflights Before …

  14. Not much use for Borat …

  15. UK Cheapflights users seeking deals to Kazakhstan April 2006 – March 20077,117 clicks

  16. What appeals to Borat?

  17. End Result: Borat is a happy user

  18. Long tail of advertisers

  19. Long tail of advertisers

  20. The Cheapflights long tail … • Founded 1967 • Employees100 • Specialize in Greece & Cyprus

  21. The Cheapflights long tail … • Founded 2004 • Employees18 • Specialize in Florida; flights, holidays & cruise

  22. The Cheapflights long tail … • Founded 1966 • Employees 39 • Specialize in Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia and Romania

  23. The Cheapflights long tail

  24. Dohop: A global flight planner

  25. Travel is a natural subject for the long tail – highly fragmented

  26. Long tail and Web 2.0 Social Networking User Reviews Search

  27. User reviews Then Now

  28. Frommers vs. WAYN • HB slide

  29. Trusted Places: example a restaurant in London

  30. The long tail:Social networking Now • World Then • club • local pub • street • school • charity • hobby • sport Your -

  31. Hours Year Source: Ofcom research, April 2006 Time spent online • More and more people are using the internet • People now spend an extra 1 hour 16 minutes each month online compared with 2001 • 16-24 year olds spend even more time online: 11 hours 20 minutes per month on the internet

  32. How to create a thriving long tail business “ 1) Make everything available. 2) Help me find it.” Chris Anderson Source: The Long Tail

  33. Long tail of the internet 2002 2007 Web 2.0 Reviews Social networking Blogging Vertical search

  34. Conclusion: • “Long tail” is suited to the internet • Vertical search is an ideal “long tail” application • Web 2.0 has accelerated the “long tail” • Understanding and using the “long tail” represents a significant and growing business opportunity

  35. Thank youQuestions,suggestions, feedback or complaints welcome…david.soskin@cheapflights.com

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