consumer – a person who uses a product or service

(Pronounced kuhn-syoo-muh)

To remember what consumer means use the following mnemonic:

This person will consume a (consumer) lot of food because he uses our catering services so often. 

Consumers are the final users of a product. The term ‘customer’ is often used interchangeably with ‘consumer’, but there is a notable difference between their meanings. A customer is a purchaser of a product, which could be a buyer of a large quantity to resell and so not necessarily the final user. A consumer, however, is the final user, but not always the purchaser. A husband may buy his wife’s favourite cereal from the supermarket, so is the customer but not the consumer.