Word of the Week: Consumer

For some reason, whatever I read this week, the word ‘Consumer’ keeps popping up, generally in the context of a customer. It makes it an ideal candidate for an Achieve Marketing Word of the Week.

Meaning of the word Consumer:

Dictionary.com defines it as

• a person or thing that consumes

• Economics: a person or organisation that uses a commodity or service

• Ecology: an organism, usually an animal that feeds on plants or other animals.

According to the Collins Dictionary, it’s a noun and is defined as

• a person who buys goods or uses services

It’s origin dates back to 1375-1425 for earlier sense ‘Squanderer’.

In Marketing terms…

In marketing terms, a consumer is often used inter-changeably with the word customer.

In this context, a consumer is an individual who buys a product or service for personal consumption or use. They make the buying decision and can be influenced by advertisements and marketing.

Once they make a decision as a consumer, they become a customer.

So I guess strictly speaking, a customer is not the same as a consumer - for example, a child would be a consumer of Haribo jellys but the parent is the customer.

But not all things in marketing are so clear cut, as the parent could be influenced by the child (Pleeaase Mum!) and make the buying decision as a consumer.

As long as consumer is consuming a service rather than another human being, (in the ecology term), I think consumer and customer can be used interchangeably.

***Ends***

Word of the Week: Boot camp

Everywhere I turn, there is a boot camp - whether it’s social media boot camp, career boot camp, management boot camp, ‘Be your own boss’ boot camp.

It’s everywhere at the moment. While I understand the logic behind organising a boot camp, I didn’t know where the word came from or it’s actual meaning. So this week’s Wednesday word of the week is ‘Boot camp.

Meaning of the the word ‘Boot Camp’

According to Collins Dictionary, it’s a noun and it means:

• A centre for juvenile offenders with strict discipline and hard physical exercise

According to Dictionary.com, it’s also a noun and defines it as

• a camp for training recruits

It adds a little bit more information:

1. A training camp for military recruits.
2. A correctional facility that uses the training techniques applied to military recruits to teach usually youthful offenders socially acceptable patterns of behavior.

While there are lots of management ‘boot camps’ around the world, I am hoping the training element rather than the correctional facility element is key to promoting the boot camps!

The word comes from America and is dated around 1940-1945 (dictonary.com)

Finally, there is no dictonary equivalent to bootcamp (all one word!).