hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is lesson 81 today we are going to look at the difference between client customer and consumer. Yeah all
them mean somebody who buys something or uses some services. So let's take
a look at the difference this does come up in class sometimes students ask what's the difference
all right look at client first this is the most professional someone who receives
the service from a professional person such as a lawyer architect accountant
consultant advertising agency etc as well as big business that has accounts
with buyers so a lawyer has clients a lawyer doesn't have customers an
architect doesn't have customers. You can go on and on.
sometimes people include the word doctor in here too but I would prefer not to
include doctor because I think most of the time with doctors or dentists or
psychiatrists we're a little more like that he's worked patient than any of
these terms ok let's take a look at the first example. That architect has many
clients yes so an architect uses clients they don't use customers. This lawyer claims his client is not guilty again a lawyer
doesn't say that he has a customer. Yes Mister Smith's advertising company has many clients and
the clients are probably other businesses that hire them to do
advertising for them so they use their services that their clients. Good okay all right
let's take a look at the word customer which is the most common and I mean and
technically you know if you are the other two technically you are really
kind of a customer anyway but how do we use it we use customer mostly with
people who buy things from stores so a person who buys goods and services
especially from a shop yeah so let's look at the first one Jill tries hard to keep all her
customers happy and satisfied in her bakery yes the people who buy from her
she has a shop she has a bakery there her customers she doesn't call them clients
definitely okay good so let's take a look at the second one somebody who buys
something from a convenience store is a customer not a client. That donut shop
has a line of customers around the block yeah all of these would definitely not
use the word client okay so let's look at the word consumer. Consumer someone who buys things
or services and uses these items or services themselves so to be honest with
you this one is close to customer and the far majority of the time people who
buy things from stores probably do actually use it themselves so in those
cases they are almost the same however there are cases where it's not the same
you know you could buy something you're the customer you bought it but maybe
gave it to somebody else somebody else used it or some other food somebody else
ate it that other person is really the consumer you're the customer they're the
consumer so a lot of times they're they're not the same thing and you can
think of it even in you know in other businesses too people that sell things
retail they probably have to buy from some wholesalers technically they are the
customers of the wholesaler and then they resell it to somebody else like in a
shop and that person buys it and uses it they're the real consumer not the
retailer so so let's take a look someone who buys things services and uses these
items of services themselves so that's the key part about a consumer all right this
is another general note about the word consumer consumer is more formal than
the word customer and is often used for referring to customers as a group
okay the first example Let's cover this. Many consumers put in complaints about that company
could you substitute the word customer yeah you probably could
but when we say consumers we're really are focusing on those who buy it and use it
themselves personally. Good so you can say I am a consumer of these vitamins and
then you're letting someone know that you know you actually do use
them they probably were the customers well but like I said there's always a
chance that somebody else bought them for you and then gave them to you in
that case customer and consumer actually separate but but the far majority times
somebody buys something from a store they use it themselves they are both
they are both the customer and the consumer yeah I hope that kind of
clarifies it or we could see the difference between these three again
client it's the most professional and the most formal especially somebody who gets
services from from professional people we usually use it that way or or big
business where big business has accounts that you know they have these you know
problem maybe retailers or get stuff from them and then resell they could be
clients in that sense as well again the customer is the most common one so if
your thinking about somebody who just goes into you know an average store and buys
something that's a customer it's probably the word that you want here the most that's
the most common in this situation like I said consumer a lot of times consumer
and customer are the same thing the real point is whether you use it or not
okay I hope that clarifies it. Thank you for your time