customer

/ˈkʌstəmər/

/ˈkʌstəmə/

Other forms: customers

A customer is anyone paying for a good or service. Without customers, businesses would go out of business.

When you're paying for just about anything, you're a customer. People shopping at the grocery store, sitting in coffee shops, going to movies, and buying DVDs online are all customers. The point of advertising is to drum up new customers for a business. There's a cliché that "The customer is always right," which is obviously not true, but shows how businesses try to make customers happy. They'd better. Without customers, any business is in deep trouble.

Definitions of customer

1. noun

   someone who pays for goods or services
   synonyms: client

   types:

   buyer, emptor, purchaser, vendee

   a person who buys

   guest

   a customer of a hotel or restaurant etc.

   frequenter, patron

   a regular customer

   policyholder

   a person who holds an insurance policy; usually, the client in whose name an insurance policy is written

   shopper

   someone who visits stores in search of articles to buy

   disburser, expender, spender

   someone who spends money to purchase goods or services

   reader, subscriber

   someone who pays for and receives a steady publication (such as a monthly magazine) or service (such as cable TV or an app)

   taker

   one who accepts an offer

   warrantee

   a customer to whom a warrant or guarantee is given

   bargain hunter

   a shopper who hunts for bargains

   customer agent

   a foreign purchaser who buys goods outright for resale

   home buyer

   someone buying a house

   no-show

   a guest who fails to notify a hotel or restaurant when canceling a reservation

   operagoer

   a patron of the opera

   orderer

   someone who places an order to buy

   overnighter

   a guest who stays overnight

   fixture, habitue, regular

   a regular patron

   shopaholic

   a compulsive shopper

   type of:

   consumer

   a person who uses goods or services