A person or company, who uses, prescribes, recommends or purchases goods or services.

A customer may also be referred to as a client, buyer, or a purchaser, although client generally refers to someone using a service. In the retail business customers are frequently positioned into three catagories; Existing customers-those that have purchased a product with a recent time, Former Customers-those that have bought in the past but not in recent history, and Potential Customers-those that the business believes has the prospect of buying and become an Existing Customer.

See also:
Customer focus
Consumer