Focus on the “long tail”

A business, especially if it is an online one, can benefit tremendously from focusing on the long tail in its product portfolio. In any product line there is a certain number of blockbuster products that are the major contributors to your top line. These are few in number and are what you can term as “running items”. However, there is a large number of products that do not move that quickly because they are niche products within a given niche or for any other reason.

Unlike a bricks and mortar store that has space constraints an online store has unlimited storage space as well as display area. In an online store, drop shipments are carried out directly from the wholesaler to the customer. To make use of the long tail effect, you need to have an easy to use navigation system on your site that leads visitors to pages that display the long tail items. Also, the search box should be prominently displayed to aid product searches. Look up niche requirement customers and solicit business from them via email messaging. Such customers can become regular clients if they do not have to search around to fulfill their requirements.