We explain what a consumer is, the types there are and differences with a client. Also, its characteristics and behavior.
What is a consumer?
In economics, a consumer is called one of the economic agents involved in the production chain. Every consumer has a series of needs to satisfy, and they do so thanks to the exchange of money for the goods and services offered that they want, and that are provided by a producer or supplier.
Consumers are generally the last step in the production chain. Are those who buy the product or service already prepared and those who use it.
They are, therefore, buyers. Advertising dedicates its promotional and motivational efforts to consumption to the consumer, and marketing or merchandising studies the consumption patterns presented by their specific community.
In the different legal systems of different countries, gives consumers a series of rights which translate into being protected from fraudulent methods of sales or from coercive, unfair or deceptive marketing methods.
In some economic theories it is preferred to use the term prosumerreferring to consumers who are, at the same time, producers.
But it is important to highlight that the consumer It is not a passive entity that simply buys what is offered. On the contrary: it plays a very active role in the selection of the offer, it is capable of modeling companies according to their needs and spending preferences.
Types of consumer
We can talk about two types of consumers, classified according to whether or not they belong to an organization larger than themselves:
- Personal consumer The one who buys what he needs in his daily life and thinks only of himself and his family.
- Organizational consumer. One who purchases for an entire company, institution or organization, or who takes into account the needs of a business that he or she runs or participates in.
Similarly, consumers can be classified according to their location in the consumption chain, as follows:
- Final consumers Those who use the acquired goods or services and who will exhaust their need for them once they have done so. They are the final rung of the chain.
- Intermediate consumers Those who are an intermediate link in the chain and not the end, that is, who buy to then make a new product with it and sell it, or who buy to resell merchandise at a higher price (normally called resellers). These consumers do not exhaust their consumption need, but rather constantly renew it (reverse it).
Difference between client and consumer
The difference between a client and a consumer has to do with the process called loyaltyand what is a consumer's continued preference for a particular brand or product to whom he is “faithful”. Thus, a loyal consumer would be a customer of the brand, while the rest of the market continues to be consumers.
Companies today are committed to creating customers rather than having a market full of consumers, since the latter can vary in their consumption patterns and can be erratic in their purchasing behavior.
Consumer characteristics
Today's consumers are very different from those in early capitalism. The technological revolution changed them as much as the market in which they operate. Thus, broadly speaking we could say that they respond to the following characteristics:
- It's connected Today's consumer uses the Internet as the favorite place to search for products and services, to the point that 63% of adult women and 77% of adult men do not spend more than an hour without connecting to their cell phones.
- Opinion is important. Today's consumers share everything: their experiences, their opinions, and they like to feel taken into account. Social networks and culture 2.0 allowed the gap between company and customer to become shorter, and today's consumers are not willing to give up on that.
- lose loyalty quickly Today's consumers are quick in their choice of consumption, they quickly identify with brands that speak their language and know how to take it into account, but with the same speed they can give it up and change to another if it stops meeting their expectations. .
- Demand immediacy Long waiting times and slow communication channels have no place in the imagination of the contemporary consumer. Everything must be fast and instant.
- Pursue authenticity. More than products and goods, they demand original experiences and seek to feel safe from misleading advertising. He demands loyalty from his companies and in exchange offers to be an exclusive customer.
Consumer behavior
Consumers change their way of consuming: the current ones are very different from those of early capitalism. The technological revolution changed us as much as it changed the market and the dynamics in which we operate. That's why, studies and reviews of consumer behavior are carried out every so often.
In these studies It analyzes the way in which consumers search, buy, use, dry and evaluate their products and services for daily or occasional use, for which the tools of marketing and financial analysis are used (among other disciplines such as psychology, for example).
The objective of any evaluation of consumer behavior is to establish how the consumer prefers to invest their money, time and effort, and to mobilize the productive apparatus to provide them with a more appropriate and satisfactory consumer experience, which translates into their predilection or loyalty for a brand. , a product or a trend.
