“You like tomaytoes and I like tomahtoes,” said George Gershwin. But does it really matter? Sometimes small differences can reflect larger disparities than what is happening on the surface. So let’s think a little more in depth about the two words, shopper and customer, which are sometimes used interchangeably about the same person. A shopper is defined as: “a person who buys goods in a shop”. A customer is: “a person with whom one has dealings” and i
d is derived from the word ‘custom’, or a habitual practice.
These definitions tell us there is a subtle, but significant difference between shoppers and customers.
A shopper does something active.
In self service retail, this means the shopper actively buys something for themselves (even if they are going to give it to someone else.)
The customer, on the other hand, has dealings with the store, and in its original meaning, it was their custom to deal with that retailer.
This can give us some insight into how differently a person in the store may see themselves, as distinct from how the retailer sees them.
To the retailer, it is all about the money, unloading merchandise to the customer, and raking in the cash, whereas the shoppers’ swelling purchases during the holiday season are driven by an avalanche of gift giving.
This is the reality brought into sharp focus by a season that is traditionally a time of peace, goodwill, and gift giving to family, friends, and charity.
This vast outpouring of socially constructive activity – giving, giving, giving – simultaneously oils the wheels of commerce.
This, in turn, feeds the society celebrating the holiday, through profits and wages. All to the common good.
But there is a cautionary note, too.
Retailers’ obsession with the customer aspect all year long can leave large blind spots in how shoppers actually behave in their store.
Their behaviour is a process by which all that merchandise ends up in shopping carts, filling needs and desires throughout the year.
Focusing on their custom (products purchased) needs serious supplementation with their behaviour in finding and selecting/choosing it.
In this sense, shopper and customer refer to two very different things: shoppers seeing themselves as shoppers versus retailers seeing them as customers.
Herb Sorensen is a US-based shopper marketing scientist, international speaker, and author of Inside The Mind Of The Shopper. Email him on herb.sorensen@shopperscientist.com.
