Swapping in the Tail

Initially, the notion of Long Tail was launched to question our current way of understanding business opportunities. Since that the discussion has expanded to a number of other areas, such as the freedom of consumption and design, software, etc. Still, the question about the profitability of Long Tail has remained – especially among those whose tail has been stepped on. Supernaturale.com made me think that the only way for the body business to benefit from the tail business is to start selling stuff that makes the tail even longer. Here is an example from the field of fashion crafting.

In supernaturale.com glitter forum there is a community of crafters that among other things swap the coolest and wierdest stuff ever seen. It basically works so that someone decides to organize a swap around a theme (for example, textiles and fabrics). In the first phase people post lists of things they like. For example, I could post a message like this:

" Hi, I’m HobbyPrincess and I like
- figurative vintage fabrics from 1950's
- old Marimekko textiles
- hand-printed cotton
- fabrics made of natural fibers

I would love to get mail from somebody, and I have some nice designs I could share .”

If I'm lucky, mister postman will soon bring me a packet, a gift from a stranger. I will then snap a photo of the things I got and post it to the glitter forum chat list. In return, I have prepared the best “counter gift” I could ever think of. (I would have to send something really cool because I know it will end up public).

This is a form of exchange that is definitively Long Tail but not necessarily that of fashion business. A site like supernaturale.com (which is only one example of the many) has as much as 2600 users – many of them consumers and producers at the same time. An increasing number of people also have their own web pages where they sell stuff, and gifts are also exchanged for promotional purposes (promo swaps). Still, for these people selling is not the point. Crafting is.

As to business opportunities, the question of how to turn small-scale hobby crafting profitable makes little sense. More interesting is the question of what kinds of new business opportunities arise from the growing interest in crafting among various consumer groups.