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Keywords

Long tail, online consumer reviews, niche products, WOM

Abstract

This research aims to understand how consumer reviews can help the products at the long tail of the distribution curve. Long-tail products are those large number of niche products that sell in small number compared to the few main-stream products that sell in large numbers. Research shows despite the Pareto principle, long-tail products cumulatively can give tough competition to the main-streams for the profitability of a retail chain. We know, reviews impact the sales of a product through its various dimensions like valence, volume, quality, length etc. We want to find if the same applies for long-tails as well. If not, then how long-tails can take the advantage of reviews like the main-streams do? These two product categories essentially target different consumers. Long-tails suit consumers with more niche preferences whereas main-streams are more inclined towards hedonism and general preferences. We believe this changed consumer behavior should reflect in the reviews as well. Incidentally, statistical tests reveal reviews for the long-tails differ significantly from those of the main-streams. With methods of text analytics, we also find reviews for the long-tails tend to be more detailed and descriptive while containing more number of topics. Then we find, among the various dimensions, long-tail consumers are motivated by review quality and not by review length, valence or volume.

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