Customer
A
customer is the recipient of a good, service, product, or idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier for a monetary or other valuable consideration.[1][2] Customers are generally categorized into two types: ▪ An
intermediate customer or
trade customer who is a dealer that purchases goods for re-sale.[3][1] ▪ An
ultimate customer who does not in turn re-sell the things bought but either passes them to the consumer or actually is the consumer.[3][1] A customer may or may not also be a consumer, but the two notions are distinct, even though the terms are commonly confused.[3][1] A customer
purchases goods; a consumer
uses them.[4][5] An ultimate customer
may be a consumer as well, but just as equally may have purchased items for someone else to consume. An intermediate customer is not a consumer at all.[3][1] The situation is somewhat complicated in that ultimate customers of so-called
industrial goods and services either themselves use up the goods and services that they buy, or incorporate them into other finished products, and so are technically consumers, too.