customer definition

A customer is an individual or entity that purchases or uses goods or services from a business or other provider. In the narrowest sense, a customer is a purchaser but, in a broader sense, a customer is a consumer even when not a purchaser. A non-purchasing consumer (customer) may, for example, be a patron at a public library or a visitor to a free website that provides information.

An internal customer is a more recent term used to identify an individual employee or department in an organization that depends on the work output of other employees or departments.

In the marketplace, a customer is considered the most important player in the life of the business, because it is their patronage, and payment for good and services, that funds the operation of the business.

Since it is the internal customer that typically serves the customer, it is often argued that the internal customer is to be considered as important as the customer.