One thing from Chris Anderson’s panel that jumped out at me was the fact, despite the competition-driven price pressure on products in the head, margins of Long Tail products can deteriorate the longer they sit on virtual shelves. This lead into a discussion of the importance of recommendations and search in driving consumers to the products they want. The panel seemed split on which has the bigger impact on driving sales. While its logical that doing both well is the best answer, it was interesting that each panel member clearly identified one or the other as more important.

Do you ‘prefer’ one over the other and, if so, what factors (type of products, customer demographic) contribute to your preference?