Long Tail

• Micropayments are convenient for online retailers because the Internet gives access to the long tail of demand. It may not be economically viable for a brick-and-mortar store owner to sell products at the micropayment level because market size is constrained by geography. An online retailer, on the other hand, can make a profit using a micropayment system because the potential market is much larger. Thus, micropayments are useful for online retailers that sell larger amounts of smaller items.
  
  

Intellectual Property

• Artists, writers and other professionals who generate creative products can benefit from micropayments by cutting out middlemen. Making small pieces of their work available for small prices, they avoid the need for publishers, galleries and other people who mark up prices. The artists sell their work at a lower price but keep a larger percentage of the profits.
  
  

Applicability

• Many companies who have tried to put micropayment systems in place have failed to profit. Because many more sellers have lost money than have made money on micropayment-based systems, some analysts believe micropayment systems are inherently flawed for most businesses. Although some products have thrived, including iTunes, micropayment systems has proven extremely difficult to apply.
  
  

Online Mindset

• As of 2011, a prevailing mindset among Internet users dictated that most Internet content should be free of charge. This attitude is particularly relevant in regard to online news, a key market that has tested micropayments. Even though micropayments are extremely small, most Internet users will almost always choose to find their news at a free site. While this mindset may change over time, and has shown signs of changing with the success of iTunes, people still hesitate to pay for online services.