Vocabulary

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shoaib 1

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Jul 20, 2010
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Hello dear Teachers,
Please, explain the difference among 'consumer', 'customer', 'subscriber', and 'user'



Regards
 

Mekdad

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Jun 11, 2009
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English Teacher
Hello dear Teachers,
Please, explain the difference among 'consumer', 'customer', 'subscriber', and 'user'



Regards
The word consumer is the person who consumes , that means to use as food, fuel or the like examples:
People consume large quantities of meat every year.
The consumer should read the labels on the food products carefully.
Elephants consume about 250 k.g. of grass a day. They are great consumers of grass.
A small car consumes less fuel than a large one.
Our products will make the consumers happy.

customer on the other hand means the person who regularly deals with a certain shop. = buyer

Our shop has lots of very rich customers.
We lost some customers because our prices are high.

User is a peson who uses anything. You use yahoo or google, but you subscribe t a magazine, newspaper, etc. and usually pay money for it.
Road users should obey the traffic rules.
Subscribers to our newspaper will get ten free issues.

I hope I was of some help.
Thanks
 

shoaib 1

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
The word consumer is the person who consumes , that means to use as food, fuel or the like examples:
People consume large quantities of meat every year.
The consumer should read the labels on the food products carefully.
Elephants consume about 250 k.g. of grass a day. They are great consumers of grass.
A small car consumes less fuel than a large one.
Our products will make the consumers happy.

customer on the other hand means the person who regularly deals with a certain shop. = buyer

Our shop has lots of very rich customers.
We lost some customers because our prices are high.

User is a peson who uses anything. You use yahoo or google, but you subscribe t a magazine, newspaper, etc. and usually pay money for it.
Road users should obey the traffic rules.
Subscribers to our newspaper will get ten free issues.

I hope I was of some help.
Thanks
Ok.But in our country, sometmes, 'customer' and 'consumer' are used which is confusing. e.g.
"Wapda(an electricity company) should facilitate its consumers"
I understand the meaning, but why not 'customer' in the above sentence?

THANKS
 

sana618

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Nov 9, 2010
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India
Current Location
India
I think consumer is used because we consume electricity meaning we are using the services provided by the electricity company. We do not use customer because we are not buying the electricity from the shops.
 
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Mike2010

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I think, in the context of the example given, either 'consumers' or 'customers' could be used. 'Consumer' is a broader term, the specific meaning of which is usually context-dependent.
 
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