Consumer
Consumers purchase goods and services for personal use.
Last updated
RCraig09 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A consumer is an individual who purchases goods or services for personal use, not for resale or commercial purposes.[1] Consumers are fundamental to any economy, particularly within capitalist systems.[2] The term "consumer" in law is often restricted to living persons, excluding corporations or businesses.[3]
Quick Facts
- Associated day
- World Consumer Rights Day, celebrated on March 15
- Economic role
- Fundamental part of any economy; drives producer motivation
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
President John F. Kennedy told the United States Congress on March 15, 1962, that "Consumers, by definition, include us all"[4] Kennedy's speech outlined the government's responsibility to help exercise consumers' rights.[4] Due to the Internet, consumers are increasingly becoming prosumers who also produce information and influence products.[5] Marketers have shifted toward personalized marketing, permission marketing, and mass customization to target consumers.[6]
Organized consumer activism—encompassing research, education, and advocacy—has arisen from worries about consumer interests.[7] Some school systems have added consumer education to their curricula.[7] Which?, Consumer Reports, and Choice magazine are non-profit publications that help consumers learn and make decisions.[7] Under India's Consumer Protection Act of 1986, only those buying for personal use or livelihood are protected; commercial purchasers are excluded.[8]
What the cited sources add
The Open Library record for ISBN 9781439130902 lists "Born to Buy" as a 2014 publication by Simon & Schuster, Limited.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Consumer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Schor, "Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture", Simon and Schuster, 19 August 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Consumer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Henderson, "Capitalism and the Consumer", Routledge, 5 December 2014, p. 38; Krugman, "Economics", Worth Publishers, 29 May 2022, p. 2; Note for example Alexander Chayanov's analysis of peasant economies, and compare consumer goods in the Soviet Union. At a fundamental level, economic agents (in; "Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe", Oxford University Press, 8 August 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Consumer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Patton-Hulce, "Environment and the Law: A Dictionary", ABC-CLIO, 1995; "An Institutional Analysis of Consumer Law", Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Consumer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Special message to Congress on protecting consumer interest, 15 March 1962", John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Consumer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gunelius, "The Shift from Consumers to PROsumers", 3 July 2010; Scammell, "Citizen Consumers: towards a new marketing of politics?", p. 6; Blättel-Mink, "Prosumer Revisited", Springer, 27 October 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Consumer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cross, "Revenue management: hard-core tactics for market domination", Broadway Books, 1997, p. 66–71 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Consumer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lightfoot, "Consumer Activism for Social Change", Social Work, 2019-10-31, p. 301–309; Royer, "The Value of Consumer Education in Increasing Effective Consumer Performance: Theory and Research", Advances in Consumer Research, 1980, p. 203–206 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Consumer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Consumer vs Customer", Consumerdaddy.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9781439130902 ("Born to Buy"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Consumer (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Consumer (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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