Consumer Goods

consumer goods

Any tangible commodity purchased by households to satisfy their wants and needs. Consumer goods may be durable or nondurable. Durable goods (e.g., autos, furniture, and appliances) have a significant life span, often defined as three years or more, and consumption is spread over this span. Nondurable goods (e.g., food, clothing, and gasoline) are purchased for immediate or almost immediate consumption and have a life span ranging from minutes to three years. See also producer goods.

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Consumer Goods 

products of labor destined for nonproduction uses, primarily personal consumption. Consumer goods are material goods used by the population to satisfy its needs. They include food products, clothing and footwear, housing, and the fuel, lighting, water, gas, and electricity used for domestic needs. They also include furniture and household articles, books and magazines, home entertainment equipment, sporting goods, toiletries, and medicines. All material goods used by establishments in the service sphere, including buildings and structures, are consumer goods; the same is true of those sectors that satisfy social needs in administration, science, and defense.

Many products of labor can have either nonproduction or production uses. Thus, flour used at a bread-baking plant, sugar used in making confectionery, and fruits for canning function as means of production.

Services are a special category of consumer goods.

V. F. MAIER