BUYERS AND SELLERS

People who buy ‘everyday’ services such as train travel or telephone services are called customers. You can also talk about the users or end-users of a product or service, who may not be the people who actually buy it. For example, when a company buys computers for its staff to use, the staff are the end-users.

People who buy products or services for their own use are consumers, especially when considered as members of large groups of people buying things in advanced economies.

A person or organization that buys something is a buyer or purchaser. These words also describe someone in a company who is responsible for buying goods that the company uses or sells. These people are also buying managers or purchasing managers.

A person or organization that sells something is a seller. In some contexts, for example selling property, they are referred to as the vendor. People selling things in the street are street vendors.

1. Find expressions in the text above with the following meanings:

1Someone who buys food in a supermarket. (3 expressions)

2All the people who buy food from a particular supermarket chain, from the point of view of the chain.

3Someone who buys the services of a private detective agency.

4All the people who buy the services of a private detective agency, seen as a group. (2 expressions)

5Someone who sells goods or services.

6Someone selling a house. (2 expressions)

7Someone buying a house. (2 expressions)

8Someone who sells hamburgers to tourists outside the Tower of London.

9Someone whose job is buying tires for a car company. (4 expressions)

10Someone who uses a computer, even if they have not bought it themselves, but their company has. (2 expressions)

2. Confusing words. Customer or client?

A customer or a client is a person who buys goods or services. The term ‘client’ is mainly used for service industries, and implies a regular contact between the seller and the buyer. A consumer is a person who buys goods or services for personal use. The term is also used to talk about someone who uses the product or service. For food, the customer is the person who buys it and the consumer is the person who eats it. However, the two terms are often used interchangeably without particular attention to the difference in meaning.

3. Translate into Russian, paying attention to the following Russian equivalents:

покупатель, потребитель, клиент, клиентура или все клиенты одной фирмы

1.There are a number of ways to talk about people who buy things. People who buy and use products and services are called consumers especially when considered as members of large groups of such people.

2.People or organizations who buy the products of a particular company are that company’s customers or clients.

3.Clients usually pay for services provided by a professional person or organization such as a lawyer, or advertising agency, or auditing firm, etc.

4.Clientele is the customers of a shop, hotel, restaurant, etc. considered as a group.

5.Profit is money made or gained in business.

6.A business may refer to its customers as its customer base or client base or clientele.

7.The customer is king. There is increased emphasis on the importance of the customer and meeting the customer’s needs.

8.Consumers are buying less goods and services than often.

9.The hotel has private dining rooms to give corporate clients the full treatment.

10.Analysts suggest that while Digital has a strong customer base for mini-computers, many of these users went to other companies when shopping for personal computers.

11.The company built a small but wealthy client base through the family connections of some of its directors.

12.Companies fail if they ignore customers’ needs.

4. Match the words given below with their definitions:

1.A person who buys something (a formal word).

2.The people, especially rich people, who regularly use a shop or a restaurant or the services of a professional person.

3.Someone who buys goods from a particular shop, restaurant or company.

4.Someone who is buying something expensive such as a house, company, or painting, usually from another person.

5.Someone who pays for services or advice from a professional person or organization.

6.A person who buys and uses goods and services.

a) client b) customer c) buyer d) consumer e) clientele f) purchaser

5. The term marketeer is used in marketing magazines and by people in the business, but in general use marketer is more common. The most popular term, however, is marketing person / people.

Con-man is someone who tricks people into spending money.

Word building.

(A) Fill in the missing words in the table:

(B) Complete the sentences below with words from the word table:

1.Marketers m_________ p________ to customers.

2.Advertisers a________ to c________.

3.Market analysts a________ the performance of s________ and the behaviour of c_________.

4.The opposite of export is i________.

5.The opposite of demand is s________.

6.C________ is good for consumers.

7.S________ is a form of a__________.

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 5238