Question
What slang terms do different industries call their customers?
Answer
Fascinating question. Never thought about it. Reveals a lot about the world of buying. Somebody like Paco Underhill ("Why We Buy") should research this and write a book about it.
Peter Baskerville has some nice ones in his list. Another common one is whale: Gambling industry, term for a big stakes gambler. Lately there has been some debate about the risks of being too invested in whale money. I wonder if this term came from Moby Dick.
There are (not really slang) terms referring to the nature of the transaction or a transferred epithet from the transaction. For example, a "walk in" or a "referral" or a "regular." Service staff may refer to their customers in terms of what they ordered ("the lasagna" or "the whisky-soda") or their car in a car wash ("he's the toyota," or the "she's the blue volvo").
There are also terms based on bargaining/shopping style, like bargain-hunter, deal-hunter, cheapskate. I bet in big retail there's a term for the extreme couponors who turn shopping into a spreadsheet-driven game.
I can't recall if this type has a name, but many industries are wary of a customer with more time than money, who are constantly complaining or demanding service, even when they haven't actually bought anything. Such people cost more to service than they spend, and no business likes them. Often these are people who look/are richer than average.
Then there are collective terms for specific groups, like mall-walkers (early morning retirees who walk through malls for exercise, and may buy something on occasion, like coffee), mall rats (a teen who hangs out in a mall with friends, again more time than money). I expect there is a very refined taxonomy of adult female shoppers.
Then there are seasonal terms like "Christmas shopper" or "holiday shopper."
I suspect besides the car industry, the real estate and airline industry will have lots of terms too (a lot of *personal* money spent, combined with the need for a certain amount of personal handling should create the right conditions for a lot of naming of archetypal customer personas).
One unfortunate effect of the strongly dictatorial culture of customer relationships in many industries is that these very human (and useful and revealing) terms have been squeezed out of everyday use, and only cynical subversives use them when their managers aren't listening.
Peter Baskerville has some nice ones in his list. Another common one is whale: Gambling industry, term for a big stakes gambler. Lately there has been some debate about the risks of being too invested in whale money. I wonder if this term came from Moby Dick.
There are (not really slang) terms referring to the nature of the transaction or a transferred epithet from the transaction. For example, a "walk in" or a "referral" or a "regular." Service staff may refer to their customers in terms of what they ordered ("the lasagna" or "the whisky-soda") or their car in a car wash ("he's the toyota," or the "she's the blue volvo").
There are also terms based on bargaining/shopping style, like bargain-hunter, deal-hunter, cheapskate. I bet in big retail there's a term for the extreme couponors who turn shopping into a spreadsheet-driven game.
I can't recall if this type has a name, but many industries are wary of a customer with more time than money, who are constantly complaining or demanding service, even when they haven't actually bought anything. Such people cost more to service than they spend, and no business likes them. Often these are people who look/are richer than average.
Then there are collective terms for specific groups, like mall-walkers (early morning retirees who walk through malls for exercise, and may buy something on occasion, like coffee), mall rats (a teen who hangs out in a mall with friends, again more time than money). I expect there is a very refined taxonomy of adult female shoppers.
Then there are seasonal terms like "Christmas shopper" or "holiday shopper."
I suspect besides the car industry, the real estate and airline industry will have lots of terms too (a lot of *personal* money spent, combined with the need for a certain amount of personal handling should create the right conditions for a lot of naming of archetypal customer personas).
One unfortunate effect of the strongly dictatorial culture of customer relationships in many industries is that these very human (and useful and revealing) terms have been squeezed out of everyday use, and only cynical subversives use them when their managers aren't listening.