Customer vs. Client vs. Consumer
Preface
During my daily life and work, I always read or use these three words. Sometimes I use customer, but at other times I use client instead. So it occurs to me that is there any difference between these words? Or do they have the same meaning? And here is what I got now.
Body
Below are part of the definitions of the three words in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1. Customer: one that purchases a commodity or service
2. Client: a person who engages the professional advice or services of another
3. Consumer: one that utilizes economic goods
So here is my understanding:
Customer and client sometimes can be synonyms, but the word “client” are more often used when a person is buying services, while “customer” can also be used when a person is buying real products. For example, you are a client of a law firm while you are a customer of Walmart.
And the word “consumer” more refer to a person buy something (commodity or service) for direct use, instead of selling or using them to manufacture products for sale.