The problem directly relates to way companies perceive its “true customer”. While the common definition for a customer is “a person who buys goods or a service”, this may hold true to all industries, but it is not perceived as the same thing throughout the whole industry.

For a Consumer Product  Goods (CPG) company, the customer is the wholesaler or distributor who actually buys the goods from the company, but the true customer is regarded as the consumer who eventually purchases the product. The real importance of the consumer is the point or retail space where the consumer decides to purchase the product. Only at this point will a manufacturer be truly successful in selling its product and therefore all CP manufacturers place great significance to the consumer and the retail space, this retail space is termed the “in-direct customer".