The Customer

A customer is a person or organization that marketing believe can benefit from the goods and services offered by an organisation. The customer is not necessarily someone who is currently purchasing from the marketer and can actually fall into one of three customer groups:

• Existing
• Former
• Potential

Existing customers are customers which have previously used the business’s services (normally within a set period of time). Former customers are those who have had previous relations with the marketing organization, normally through a previous purchase, that the marketer no longer feels is an Existing Customer either because theyhave made a purchased within a certain period of time or through other indications such as purchasing from a rival.

Potential customers are those who haven’t made a purchase to date but the marketer believes have the requirements to eventually become Existing Customers.