- 1 a person or an organization that buys something from a shop/store or business one of the shop’s best/biggest customers They know me—I'm a regular customer. the customer service department The firm has excellent customer relations. Wordfindercompanyagent, business, company, competitor, customer, director, employ, franchise, manager, shareholder CollocationsShoppingShopping go/go out/be out shopping go to (especially British English) the shops/(especially North American English) a store/(especially North American English) the mall do (British English) the shopping/(especially North American English) the grocery shopping/a bit of window-shopping (North American English, informal) hit/hang out at the mall try on clothes/shoes indulge in some retail therapy go on a spending spree cut/cut back on/reduce your spending be/get caught shoplifting donate something to/take something to/find something in (British English) a charity shop/(North American English) a thrift store buy/sell/find something at (British English) a car boot sale/(British English) a jumble sale/a garage sale/(North American English) a yard sale find/get/pick up a bargainAt the shop/store load/push/wheel (British English) a trolley/(North American English) a cart stand in/wait in (British English) the checkout queue/(North American English) the checkout line (North American English) stand in line/ (British English) queue at the checkout bag (especially North American English) (your) groceries pack (away) (especially British English) your shopping stack/stock/restock the shelves at a store (with something) be (found) on/appear on supermarket/shop/store shelves be in/have in/be out of/run out of stock deal with/help/serve customers run a special promotion be on special offerBuying goods make/complete a purchase buy/purchase something online/by mail order make/place/take an order for something buy/order something in bulk/in advance accept/take credit cards pay (in) cash/by (credit/debit) card/(British English) with a gift voucher/(North American English) with a gift certificate enter your PIN number ask for/get/obtain a receipt return/exchange an item/a product be entitled to/ask for/demand a refund compare prices offer (somebody)/give (somebody)/get/receive a 30% discount Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivebig, favoured/favored, favourite/favorite, … verb + customerhave, deal with, help, … customer + nouncare, relations, relationship, … See full entry See related entries: Online shopping
- 2(old-fashioned, informal) used after an adjective to describe a particular type of person an awkward customer a cool customer (= somebody who is always calm, even when in trouble) an ugly customer (= somebody who may become violent) Extra examples If you have a complaint, contact the customer care unit. It’s a special offer to attract new customers. Part of good customer relations is knowing how to deal with complaints. The questionnaire is to test customer reaction to the new store design. The terms of the guarantee will be set out in the customer agreement. There are a large number of potential customers for the new product. They are hoping that TV advertising will increase their customer base. They are one of our biggest customers. They carried out a customer satisfaction survey. They organized an evening’s entertainment for favoured customers. This cheaper model was produced in response to customer demand. We can’t afford to lose any more customers. We like to think that we have satisfied customers. Draw up a customer profile and write a description of your typical customer. He comes in twice a week and is one of our best customers. I’d like to speak to someone in the customer service department, please. Is there a set procedure for dealing with customer complaints? Schools are among the biggest customers for this service. They know me—I’m a regular customer.
Check pronunciation: customer
