Customers are one of the most immediate external stakeholders that a company must consider. For retailers, consumers are customers. Attracting, retaining and generating loyalty from core consumer markets its critical to long-term financial success. For business-to-business companies, the customers are the businesses that buy goods for business use. Trade resellers sell directly to wholesalers or retailers, but they must also consider end customers as part of their stakeholders. If consumers don't buy manufactured goods, for instance, nobody in the distribution channel succeeds.