A shop owner has to make bets. To buy inventory, to choose this over that, to make decisions in advance about what's going to sell. The owner might need to make these decisions months in advance, with no chance to re-order if there's a hit and nothing but discounted sales (losses) for what doesn't sell. The relentless physics of the situation means that shops need the ability to not just pick hits, but to make them. It's so different in the digital world. Amazon Prime says: "We're going to sell everything, and a lot of it. We don't care which thing, because it's all the same to us. Just put everything in the store and the market will sort it out". As a result, they have far less promotional power. Amazon doesn't make a hit, it contains hits - they have it all and the longer the tail, the better.