Editing Consumer (section)

==Economics and marketing==
In an [[economy]], a consumer buys goods or services primarily for [[Consumption (economics) | consumption]] and not for resale or for [[commerce | commercial]] purposes. Consumers pay some amount of money (or equivalent) for goods or services.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Schor
 |first1               = Juliet B.
 |author-link1         = Juliet Schor
 |title                = [[Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture]]
 |date = 19 August 2014
 |publisher            = Simon and Schuster
 |publication-date     = 2014
 |isbn                 = 9781439130902
 |quote                = Kids and teens are now the epicenter of American consumer culture.
}} 
</ref>) then consume (use up). As such, consumers play a vital role in the [[economic system]] of a [[Capitalism |capitalist]] system<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Henderson
 |first1               = Fred
 |author-link1         = Fred Henderson
 |orig-date            = 1936
 |title                = Capitalism and the Consumer
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=U0i2BQAAQBAJ
 |series               = Routledge Library Editions: Consumer Behaviour
 |date = 5 December 2014
 |location             = Abingdon, Oxfordshire
 |publisher            = Routledge
 |publication-date     = 2014
 |page                 = 38
 |isbn                 = 9781317565109
 |access-date          = 14 October 2021
 |quote                = [...] the completion of the producing process by the use and consumption which carries the goods-production into human life itself [...].
}} 
</ref>
and form a fundamental part of any economy.<ref>
Consumers play a pivotal part in economics, which Krugman and Wells define as the study of production, distribution and consumption.
{{cite book
 |last1                = Krugman
 |first1               = Paul
 |author-link1         = Paul Krugman
 |last2                = Wells
 |first2               = Robin
 |author-link2         = Robin Wells
 |title                = Economics
 |date = 29 May 2022

 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=jl18kgEACAAJ
 |edition              = 3
 |publisher            = Worth Publishers
 |publication-date     = 2012
 |page                 = 2
 |isbn                 = 9781464128738
}} 
</ref><ref>Note for example [[Alexander Chayanov]]'s analysis of peasant economies, and compare [[consumer goods in the Soviet Union]]. At a fundamental level, economic agents (individuals, groups and states) work/hunt/gather/trade so that they and their dependants can eat.</ref><ref>
{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HjxpAgAAQBAJ |title=Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe |date=8 August 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199827664 |editor-last1=Bren |editor-first1=Paulina |editor-link=Paulina Bren |location=Oxford |publication-date=2012 |author-link=Paulina Bren |access-date=14 October 2021 |editor-last2=Neuburger |editor-first2=Mary}} 
</ref>

Without consumer [[demand]], [[production (economics) |producers]] would lack one of the key motivations to produce: [[Sales|to sell]] to consumers. The consumer also forms one end of the chain of [[distribution (marketing) |distribution]].

Recently{{when?|date=October 2021}} in [[marketing]], instead of marketers generating broad [[demographic profile| demographic profiles]] and Fisio-graphic profiles of [[market segmentation |market segments]], marketers have started to engage in [[personalized marketing]], [[permission marketing]], and [[mass customization]] to target potential consumers.<ref>{{cite book|last= Cross|first= Robert G.|title= Revenue management: hard-core tactics for market domination|publisher= Broadway Books|year= 1997 |pages= 66–71|isbn= 978-0-553-06734-7}} 
</ref>

Largely due to the rise of the [[Internet]], consumers are shifting more and more{{quantify|date=October 2021}} toward becoming [[prosumer]]s, consumers who are also producers (often of information and media on the [[social web]]) - they influence the products created (e.g. by customization, [[crowdfunding]] or publishing their preferences), actively participate in the [[Production (economics) | production process]], or use [[interactive products]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last1= Gunelius|first1= Susan|title= The Shift from Consumers to PROsumers|url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2010/07/03/the-shift-from-consumers-to-prosumers/|magazine=Forbes|access-date=2 July 2016|date=3 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1= Scammell|first1=Margaret|title=Citizen Consumers: towards a new marketing of politics?|url= https://depts.washington.edu/gcp/pdf/citizenconsumers.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030823102948/http://depts.washington.edu/gcp/pdf/citizenconsumers.pdf |archive-date=2003-08-23 |url-status=live|access-date=2 July 2016|page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Prosumer Revisited|isbn = 9783531169354|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5j_MTL7AZQC&pg=PA73|access-date=2 July 2016|last1 = Blättel-Mink|first1 = Birgit|last2 = Hellmann |first2 = Kai-Uwe|date = 27 October 2009| publisher=Springer }}</ref>