What is the difference between customer and consumer

In popular usage, the terms consumer and customer are frequently interchanged. A customer is someone who purchases a thing. A consumer, in simple terms, is someone who consumes a product. Regardless of their precise meanings, both words are considered fundamental in the consumerism economic philosophy. Every person on the planet is a consumer or a customer in some manner, and they are frequently misunderstood.

A consumer is the one who uses or consumes the products, whereas a customer is the one who buys the product and pays for it. When an individual buys goods for personal use, both the customer and the consumer are sometimes the same person. All marketing procedures are focused on influencing consumer behavior, which includes persuading customers to perform the desired action that marketers expect.

Another point to consider in the consumer vs. They are simply customers, not consumers, of the items they acquire since they resell them to the consumer, who will eventually utilize the commodity. A customer may have bought the product for their own needs or, for the necessity of consumption or, for adding value to themselves or others.

A customer could have also bought the product with the intention of reselling it to others. Meanwhile, a consumer is the one who bought the product for the purpose of consumption and personal use only.

Customer pays for the purchase of the product or service. They also may make back the money spent by reselling or from another party — in case he had bought it for another person. A consumer, on the other hand, does not necessarily pay for the product. Take the example of gifts given to children that are purchased by parents — in this case, the children are the consumers and parents are the customers of the gift shop.

Finally, a customer may be an individual or an organisation or a business — buyers of products. A consumer can be an individual or a group of people or a family — users of products they may or may not have purchased. Did we miss something? Come on! Tell us what you think about our article on Customer vs. Consumer in the comments section. Started out to become a developer but felt at home in the home of startups. The journey started from a single novel. Been an entrepreneur since schooling days.

Interested in coding, reading and movies. Yes, add me to your mailing list. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Hello Bharath, I was just hired at a coffee shop. For example, in the glossary for the CA Regional Centers, it states the definition of consumer: A consumer is an individual with developmental disabilities who is eligible for regional center services.

Authorized representatives include parents, guardians, and conservators. An amoeba is a consumer. It consumes. Lawyers have clients. It does not imply a mental health status or criminality or any other such thing. Advertising firms have clients, engineering firms have clients. It only implies reciprocal mutual relationship. They reciprocate with some consideration either personally or by proxy.

A consumer just takes. You think of the relationship of a consumer as only an end user. They only take. I loathe the word. These humans are so much more than takers — consumers, and give back in so many ways. Foremost, they give back humanity, where materialists merely define things in economic terms.

The number of people served justifies budgets. So in some instances people are just numbers for a report and not clients. Your explanation makes perfect sense to me.