consumer

Economy-And-Finanzas

2022

We explain what a consumer is, the types that exist and differences with a customer. Also, its characteristics and behavior.

The consumer satisfies his needs by exchanging money for goods and services.

What is a consumer?

In economy, one of the economic agents involved in the production chain is called a consumer. 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 a producer or supplier provides them.

Consumers are generally the bottom rung of the production chain. They are the ones who buy the product or the service already prepared and who use it.

So they are buyers. The consumer dedicates advertising your advocacy efforts and motivation to consumption, and marketing or marketing studies the consumption patterns that its community specific.

In the different legal systems of the different countries, consumers are granted a series of rights, which translate into being protected from fraudulent modes of sale or ofmethods coercive, unfair or fallacious marketing.

In some economic theories it is preferred to use the termprosumer, referring to consumers who are, at the same time, producers.

But it is important to note that the consumer 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, is able to model the Business according to your needs and spending preferences.

Consumer types

The personal consumer buys what he needs in his daily life.

We can speak of two types of consumer, classified according to whether or not they belong to an organization larger than themselves:

  • Personal consumer. He who buys what he needs in his daily life and thinks only of himself and his family nucleus.
  • Organizational consumer. He who buys for a company, institution or organization whole, or that takes into account the needs of a business that you run or participate in.

Similarly, consumers can be classified according to their location in the supply chain. consumption, as follows:

  • Final consumers. Those who make use of the goods or services acquired 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 and then make a new product with it and sell it, or who buy to resell merchandise at a higher price (normally calledresellers). These consumers do not exhaust their consumption need, but constantly renew it (invest it).

Difference between customer and consumer

The difference between a client and a consumer has to do with the process calledloyalty, and that it is the continuous preference of a consumer for a certain brand or product, to which it is "faithful". Thus, a loyal consumer would be a customer of the brand, while the rest of the market continues to be consumers.

The Business Nowadays they are committed to creating customers, rather than having a market full of consumers, since the latter can vary in their consumption modes and can be erratic in their purchasing behavior.

Consumer characteristics

Today's consumers are very different from those in the capitalism early. 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:

  • Are you connected.Today's consumer uses the Internet as the favorite place to search for products and services, to the point that 63% of women and 77% of adult men spend no more than an hour without connecting with their cell phones.
  • Opinion is important. Today's consumers share everything: their experiences, their opinions, and they like to feel taken into account. The social networks and culture 2.0 allowed the gap between company and customer to narrow, and today's consumers are not willing to give it up.
  • They (dis) loyalty quickly. Today's consumers are quick in their choice of consumption, they identify quickly with the brands that are handled in their language and that they know how to take it into account, but with the same speed they can give it up and switch to another if it stops meeting their expectations.
  • Demand immediacy. The long wait times and slow channels of communication they have no place in the imaginary of the contemporary consumer. Everything must be fast and instantly.
  • Pursue authenticity. More than products and goods, demand original experiences and seek to feel safe from misleading advertising. They demand loyalty from their companies and in return offer 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. For this reason, studies and reviews of consumer behavior are carried out from time to time.

These studies analyze the way in which consumers search, buy, use, dry out and evaluate their products and services for daily or occasional use, for which they make use of the tools of marketing and marketing. analysis financial (among other disciplines such as psychology, for example).

The objective of any evaluation of consumer behavior is to establish how they prefer to invest their money, weather and effort, and mobilize the productive apparatus to provide a more consistent and more satisfactory consumer experience, which translates into their preference or fidelity for a brand, a product or a trend.

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