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Difference Between Customer and Consumer
The line of demarcation between customer and consumer is very thin and blurred. In the business world, these words are used scores of times in a day and most of the time they are used interchangeably. The two terms signify different meanings,Customer refers to a person who buys the goods or commodity and pays the price for it but a Consumer is the user of those goods.
By Customer, we mean a person who buys the goods or services and pays the price thereof. The word customer is derived from the term ‘custom’ which means ‘practice’, so the word customer means the individual or entity who purchases product or services from a seller at regular intervals. It can also be known as client or buyer. They are divided into two categories:
The customers are regarded as the king, in every business because they help in earning revenue. The cbusinesses focus on converting shoppers into buyers. They also try to maintain good relationship with the customers in order to keep the business going. Below given are the three kinds of customers:
We define consumer, as a person who is the end user of the product. The word consumer is made from the word ‘consume’ which means ‘to use’. In this way the word consumer means a person who purchases the product or service for his own use or consumption.
As per the Consumer Protection Act,, it does not include the person who purchases the commodity for the purpose of adding value or resale for any commercial purpose. However, a person can use those goods or services to earn livelihood or self employment. Any type of user, other than the buyer who purchases goods, consumes the goods by taking permission of the buyer will also come under the category of Consumer. It includes the person who avails the services for any consideration. Moreover, the beneficiary of such services will also be regarded as the consumer. There are three Consumer protection council in India:
Key Differences Between Customer and Consumer
So from the above discussion, it is clear that the person who is a customer is not necessarily a consumer and vice versa. Now, it is a big question for many marketing executives to whom they focus on a customer or a consumer?
Enterprises must focus on the two as they should take care of what is demanded of the product by the consumer as well as they should advertise the product so well that it will grab the attention of the millions of customers instantly because the buying decision is taken by the two together or by keeping in view of the other. So, the companies should give equal importance to both.