The term buyer is from c. 1200, biggere "one who purchases," agent noun from buy (v.). Meaning "one whose job is to buy goods for a store" is from 1884.

Buyers/customers in an industry can impact the industry in a variety of ways. Companies must make an assessment of how easy it is for buyers to drive prices down. This is driven by the number of buyers in the market, importance of each individual buyer to the organization, and cost to the buyer of switching from one supplier to another. If a business has just a few powerful buyers, they are often able to dictate terms. Other considerations to determine the power of buyers/customers are; switching costs, bulk purchases, product differentiation, and substitutes. Determine threats, opportunities, profitability, and depth of competition to enable more informed strategic decisions.

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Assessing a risk, dive into a deep abyss, fortitude of will