The differences between a customer and consumer are limited.
Many have wondered about the difference between a customer and a consumer, especially given that so often people use the terms interchangeably. While a fine line separates the customer from the consumer, distinct differences exist. Understanding the distinction is critical for businesses as it affects how they advertise their products.
Customer
The customer is an organization or person that purchases a product, but is not the end user of the product. For example, assume a customer is the purchasing department of an organization. Each department of the organization places an order for goods or services that it needs, such as paper for the administrative department. The purchasing department finds a manufacturer that sells the product and orders the product. The purchasing department is the customer but the administrative department is the consumer.
Consumer
The consumer is the end user of a product and actually consumes the product. An example of a consumer is the patron of a grocery store. The patron purchases groceries from the store in order to eat the food. The grocery store bought those food items from farmers, manufacturers and other vendors, so that it could sell these items to consumers. The grocery store is the customer of the farmers, and the patrons are the consumers of the grocery store.
Authority
One of the biggest differences between the consumer and customer is the authority to purchase a product or service. The customer may have the authority to purchase a product, but does not make the decision on what is purchased. The consumer has the authority to purchase a product as well as determine which product is purchased. Take the grocery store example again. The grocery store purchases products that the patrons are going to buy. A product that does not sell is discontinued, and the grocery store or customer will buy another product that the consumer or patron will buy.
Marketing
Marketing and advertising focuses on who will benefit from the product being advertised. A industrial coffee maker manufacturer will concentrate its advertising on coffee shops or cafeterias. The coffee shop will concentrate its advertising on the coffee drinker who consumes the coffee made by the coffee maker. Smaller coffee maker manufacturers concentrate their advertising on the consumer that purchases the coffee maker in order to consume the coffee at home. In this instance, the customer and consumer are the same.
Tags: grocery store, coffee maker, authority purchase, authority purchase product, customer consumer, purchase product