From the commerce perspective of understanding, a consumer is an individual who buys products for his own consumption.
On the other hand, a customer is a person who buys products necessarily not for his own consumption.
I'm going to talk about the consumer, forget about the customer I have just mentioned above.
The term "consumer" is a mechanistic term used by economists or when discussing economic issues to denote someone who buys things in the economy.
As such, it is also a political term, as politics and economics are inseparable.
Business people and economists talk of consumers as an aggregated.
Consumers are discussed as an equation that has to do with economic activity.
There is no individuality expressed or even meant to be expressed in the term.
However, there is a trend in marketing that has individualized the concept of the consumer.
Rather than generating broad demographic profiles of market segments, marketers are looking for ways to personalize the science of marketing with concepts like permission marketing and mass customization.
In marketing, the consumer is always assumed as having money to spend in purchasing goods and services.
They (consumers) are treated as entities with discretion where to spend their money.
Under what is called the assumption of rationality, producers of goods act on the advice of marketers to know what to produce and how much of it they should produce.
Therefore, product creation starts with the consumer.
This is often thought of as maximizing utility function that is, making the consumer a more powerful battery for running the "profit gizmo.
" If more desirable products are produced (products that are accepted by the consumers in the market), more money is spent by consumers on these products.
There are also "time series" models of consumer behavior, in which the consumer may invest a proportion of their budget in order to leverage greater budget in the future.
Investments fall under this model and may include fixed rate interest loans or risk-bearing securities.
In the context of health, the term consumer is applied to someone living with an illness and is undergoing treatment (consuming the services of health professionals).
A health professional can help these people regain their lives while achieving their own goals simultaneously.
But problems may arise when dealing with prospects.
Many patients become frustrated when in spite of their best efforts they seem unable to stick to the regimen laid out for them.
There are several proven strategies for dealing with the problem.
It is fundamental to make a plan that is sure to fit the lifestyle of the consumers who are seeking help so as to solve their problems.
Think ahead about how well the plan will fit into consumers' lifestyle and be realistic about it.
Anything that can be done to come up with new ways of satisfying the consumers better will be of great help.
"As a business leader you have to ask yourself, "Am I creating a consumer environment that is conducive to loyalty?" If the answer is no, FIX IT!"-Steve Maraboli