Customer and consumer
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Iftu Ahmed
THE word customer is derived from the word custom which denotes habit. The customer has a habit of purchasing goods regularly at the shop and the shopkeeper keeps this habitual relationship with the customer in the hope that the customer will come back to his shop in future.
The growth of a potential business depends on the patronisation of customers. Low price, the trusted brand and guaranteed satisfaction are the three key elements to win the heart of customers. A good customer service can keep business growing. To generate revenue through selling products or services, every business should focus on customers who are in need of the products or services.
Customers are referred as boss or said to be always right. It indicates the importance of customers to businesses. Sam Walton (1918-1992), the founder of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. which is the world's largest retailer, used to say, "Customers are boss." He said: "There is only one boss and whether a person shines shoes for a living or heads up the biggest corporation in the world, the boss remains the same. The customer is the person who pays everyone's salary and who decides whether a business is going to succeed or fail. And they don't care if a business has been around 100 years. The minute it starts treating them badly, they'll start to put it out of business. In fact, customers can fire everyone from the chairman to down below. And they can do it by spending their money some places else."
The customer may also be called a client, guest, caregiver and buyer etc. because customers are valuable to businesses and they pay for products or services.
The consumer means a person or thing that consumes, especially goods or services, for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing. It means that a consumer is an ultimate user of the product or service. As for example: A bicycle sold to a consumer is a final good. The components of a bicycle such as tires/tubes sold to the bicycle manufacturer are not so but are intermediate or producer goods used to make the final good.
The rise of consumer movement, which is also known as consumer protection is a significant development in the arena of business and industry. The consumer movement protects consumers from unsafe or low-quality products and fraudulent business practices such as misleading advertising, labelling or packaging.
Currently, consumer protection societies provide adequate information about the quality and safety of products or services. They help consumers make wise decision to purchase products or services. If damage or injury occurs by defective products, consumer protection societies inform consumers about the effective means of compensation and how to get it.
So, the customer and the consumer both are playing a very vital role in businesses.
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The writer can be reached at e-mail: iftuahmed@sbcglobal.net
THE word customer is derived from the word custom which denotes habit. The customer has a habit of purchasing goods regularly at the shop and the shopkeeper keeps this habitual relationship with the customer in the hope that the customer will come back to his shop in future.
The growth of a potential business depends on the patronisation of customers. Low price, the trusted brand and guaranteed satisfaction are the three key elements to win the heart of customers. A good customer service can keep business growing. To generate revenue through selling products or services, every business should focus on customers who are in need of the products or services.
Customers are referred as boss or said to be always right. It indicates the importance of customers to businesses. Sam Walton (1918-1992), the founder of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. which is the world's largest retailer, used to say, "Customers are boss." He said: "There is only one boss and whether a person shines shoes for a living or heads up the biggest corporation in the world, the boss remains the same. The customer is the person who pays everyone's salary and who decides whether a business is going to succeed or fail. And they don't care if a business has been around 100 years. The minute it starts treating them badly, they'll start to put it out of business. In fact, customers can fire everyone from the chairman to down below. And they can do it by spending their money some places else."
The customer may also be called a client, guest, caregiver and buyer etc. because customers are valuable to businesses and they pay for products or services.
The consumer means a person or thing that consumes, especially goods or services, for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing. It means that a consumer is an ultimate user of the product or service. As for example: A bicycle sold to a consumer is a final good. The components of a bicycle such as tires/tubes sold to the bicycle manufacturer are not so but are intermediate or producer goods used to make the final good.
The rise of consumer movement, which is also known as consumer protection is a significant development in the arena of business and industry. The consumer movement protects consumers from unsafe or low-quality products and fraudulent business practices such as misleading advertising, labelling or packaging.
Currently, consumer protection societies provide adequate information about the quality and safety of products or services. They help consumers make wise decision to purchase products or services. If damage or injury occurs by defective products, consumer protection societies inform consumers about the effective means of compensation and how to get it.
So, the customer and the consumer both are playing a very vital role in businesses.
...............................
The writer can be reached at e-mail: iftuahmed@sbcglobal.net