What is 'Long tail' in Business?

This refers to a strategy through which businesses can maximise their revenue and profitability by selling a large variety of low-volume but high-value niche products instead of just a few varieties of high-volume but low-value mainstream products. The idea was popularised by British journalist Chris Anderson through his 2006 book The Long Tail . Anderson argued that due to the fall in distribution and other costs associated with traditional retail after the rise of the Internet, the modern marketplace is transforming rapidly from a place for mass products to one where there are numerous niche products.