Customer - Definition and Overview

A customer is someone who purchases or rents something from an individual or organisation.

Types of Customer

Customers can be classified into two main groups; internal and external customers. An internal customer is someone who works for the organisation, possibly in another department or another branch. External customers are essentially the general public.

These two groups can be further broken down:

Internal Customers

• People working in different departments
• People working in different branches

External Customers

• Individuals
• Individuals of different needs
• Individuals of different cultures
• Business people
• Groups

Needs and Expectations

Customers have needs and expectations that need to be observed by the organisation. A need is something that the customer needs, like car insurance being low. An expectation is something that the customer won't necessarily get but they expect to get, like a car getting from a person's place of departure to their destination.