Most people's definition of a customer is an individual who buys a product or service from an organization. If we look for a dictionary definition. then this is pretty much what we are given. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary, for example, gives the following simple definition:
"1> one that purchases a commodity or service.
2> an individual usually having some specified distinctive trait <a real tough customer>".
Ignoring the second definition as not really applying to our purpose here, in simple situations like, say, buying a sandwich for your lunch, the first definition is, to a large extent, correct. But not all transactions are so straightforward and, according to the UK's Institute of Customer Service, a customer is:
"1> one that purchases a commodity or service.2> an individual usually having some specified distinctive trait <a real tough customer>".
Ignoring the second definition as not really applying to our purpose here, in simple situations like, say, buying a sandwich for your lunch, the first definition is, to a large extent, correct. But not all transactions are so straightforward and, according to the UK's Institute of Customer Service, a customer is:
"Anyone... who receives customer service from customer deliverer".
This is a very broad definition and needs to be examined a little closer. Let's start by exploring some of the basics and defining what we mean by the words we often associate with a customer.
Now if we want find the difference between a customer and a consumer, again looking at the dictionary, we find a specific definition of a consumer:
"... a person who buys goods or services for personal needs and not for resale or to use in the production of other goods for resale".
So a consumer is a customer who buys something from you which they will be using themselves. So they are both the purchaser and the user.
Now the question comes that, Is the customer the person who pays?
In simple retail situations, the customer buys and uses the goods or services which the seller is offering. The purchase isn't complicated and the sales assistant can quickly identify what the customer needs. All of us make these kind of transactions everyday. However, if we take our example of the lunchtime sandwich, who is the customer if you are buying a sandwich for a colleague? This leads us on to the next question.
i.e, Is the customer the same as the user?
The person who pays for the goods or services - the buyer - may be only one link in a chain of people all with different points of view and positions regarding the purchase. The person who actually does the buying may be a separate person who is not going to be using the goods or service at all. The person who actually uses the product or service that has been bought may also have some influence over the purchase decision. So, both sets of people can be classified as customer as they are all receiving customer service from the seller, but each will have an different perspective on the purchase - for example, the sandwich buyer has been given the task of buying something to eat, generally within a price range, which meets the needs and tastes of their colleague, and the sandwich eater wants to know that they are getting something which they can enjoy (taste,freshness, etc.) and which represents good value for money.
So, buyers and users are not necessarily one and the same, particularly in commercial markets where the buyer is not an individual acting on his/her own or on behalf of other individuals, but is part of an organization.
Take an example that will clear the concept. Consider the situation where a grandparent gives money to a parent to buy a gift for their grandchild. Who is receiving the service in this case? The child? The parent? The grandparents? All three? Certainly the parents are the direct customers as they are the ones who are interacting with the organization in the purchase. But the grandparents can also be classified as customers as they also have needs and wishes that the organization must satisfy. The child who receives the present will be the user of the goods or service provided and therefore he/she, too, falls within the definition.
So what we concluded by the question What is a customer ??? i.e.
"A customer is the most important person ever in the company/organization. A customer is not dependent on us, we are dependent on him. A customer is not the interruption of our work, he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favor by serving customers, they are doing the favor by giving us the opportunity to do so. A customer is not someone to argue with, nobody ever won an argument with a customer. A customer is a person who brings us his wants-it is our job to handle them profitably to him and to ourselves."
Now if we want find the difference between a customer and a consumer, again looking at the dictionary, we find a specific definition of a consumer:
"... a person who buys goods or services for personal needs and not for resale or to use in the production of other goods for resale".
So a consumer is a customer who buys something from you which they will be using themselves. So they are both the purchaser and the user.
Now the question comes that, Is the customer the person who pays?
In simple retail situations, the customer buys and uses the goods or services which the seller is offering. The purchase isn't complicated and the sales assistant can quickly identify what the customer needs. All of us make these kind of transactions everyday. However, if we take our example of the lunchtime sandwich, who is the customer if you are buying a sandwich for a colleague? This leads us on to the next question.
i.e, Is the customer the same as the user?
The person who pays for the goods or services - the buyer - may be only one link in a chain of people all with different points of view and positions regarding the purchase. The person who actually does the buying may be a separate person who is not going to be using the goods or service at all. The person who actually uses the product or service that has been bought may also have some influence over the purchase decision. So, both sets of people can be classified as customer as they are all receiving customer service from the seller, but each will have an different perspective on the purchase - for example, the sandwich buyer has been given the task of buying something to eat, generally within a price range, which meets the needs and tastes of their colleague, and the sandwich eater wants to know that they are getting something which they can enjoy (taste,freshness, etc.) and which represents good value for money.So, buyers and users are not necessarily one and the same, particularly in commercial markets where the buyer is not an individual acting on his/her own or on behalf of other individuals, but is part of an organization.
Take an example that will clear the concept. Consider the situation where a grandparent gives money to a parent to buy a gift for their grandchild. Who is receiving the service in this case? The child? The parent? The grandparents? All three? Certainly the parents are the direct customers as they are the ones who are interacting with the organization in the purchase. But the grandparents can also be classified as customers as they also have needs and wishes that the organization must satisfy. The child who receives the present will be the user of the goods or service provided and therefore he/she, too, falls within the definition.
So what we concluded by the question What is a customer ??? i.e.
"A customer is the most important person ever in the company/organization. A customer is not dependent on us, we are dependent on him. A customer is not the interruption of our work, he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favor by serving customers, they are doing the favor by giving us the opportunity to do so. A customer is not someone to argue with, nobody ever won an argument with a customer. A customer is a person who brings us his wants-it is our job to handle them profitably to him and to ourselves."
or in short
"Customer is the KING of the market."
Most organizations these days try to identify who their customers are in order to gather large amounts of data about them.This "data mining" informs strategic business decisions such as loyalty programs, advertising decisions and even product specifications. Kindly Share Your Valuable feedback and don't forget to use social bookmarking widgets to spread the info!!
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