Why are online retailers one step ahead of traditional retail stores? Simple, because they have virtually unlimited shelf space. Other advantages include the extensive lists of similar items or recommendations that a normal shop worker would find impossible to remember. One company that puts these aspects into practice extremely well is Amazon.

The Long Tail graph was developed by Wired Magazine Editor Chris Anderson, later releasing a book titled: 'The Long Tail - Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More.' The whole principle is about fewer products selling in large quantities verses more products selling in lower quantities. Chris Anderson is therefore suggesting that the future of business is to stock as many products as humanly possible in large warehouses.

Chris Anderson suggests that companies such as Google and Apple can mine both the head and the tail. They have the assets and resources to operate monopoly businesses. Take Apple's iTunes Store for instance, with a catalogue of more than 11 million songs. Put that into perspective, a regular HMV shop would have to be monumentally huge to store that amount of records. However, the cost of storing and distributing digital files is extremely minimal, and the chance to profit from back catalogues becomes a distinct possibility.

"We sold more books today that didn't sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday"
Amazon Employee (Describing the Long Tail)

It seems to me that The Long Tail applies more to the digital age of the internet than the traditional high street. If The Long Tail approach is widely accepted by the majority of businesses in the future, could high street stores start collapsing? After all, wasn't Woolworth's killed off by the internet and supermarkets? It leaves me wondering if the high street will soon become a row of warehouses? With the recent rumours of Amazon planning to open high street collection stores, it could soon become a reality.