Using the Long Tail

AleksandrM · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 5:31 am Post subject: Using the Long Tail

I do not have a question. However, I have a suggestion. In his book, Chris Anderson points out that due to the near 0 marginal cost of selling products online, companies can increase their revenue. They can do this because they are able to provide a larger variety of products and move into specific niches. Anyhow, I believe that this principle can be applied to Manhattan GMAT in the following way.

Break down the 8 guides into individual chapters, and sell them online.

I have purchased a number of your books, and found them tremendously helpful. However, other books only offere specific chapters that I would purchase.

Why not provide individual chapters in PDF form? This would provide a wider variety of products. For example, people who would like to purchase the entire Geometry guide can do so. Those who would like to only purchase a chapter on triangles, for example, can do so as well. These chapters would have to only be available through the online store; otherwise, costs would go up.

Something to think about.

michael.dinerstein · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:25 pm Post subject:

Hi AleksandrM,

Thanks for the suggestion! We've certainly weighed putting our Strategy Guides online for some time at this point, but we've decided that the benefits of having a physical copy of a Strategy Guide, such as being able to write and keep track of progress being made, outweigh the advantages of selling the guides online. While we're certain that selling these guides at a marginal cost of 0 would boost our profit margins, we place priority on student experience, which is why our guides will be in print form for now.

Best,