Customer base is the group of current clients and consumers that a business serves. In the most ideal situation, a large part of this group is made up of repeat customers with a high ratio of purchase over time. In many cases, the customer base is considered the business’s target customer, where customer behaviors are well understood through market research or past experience. An existing product’s target price would be adjusted by considering the purchase behavior of the existing customer base. 

In the retail and wholesale industries, one might consider the customer base to be made up of the customers registered in the customer database (i.e. customer list), but this is true only in an ideal situation, including all the best customers in the list. Many times, this is not the case — most businesses may not be aware of whom their real customer base is made up of. Careful postsales analysis is necessary to determine, if the customer database amassed over the years is truly helpful or completely worthless. 

Companies with a customer base consisting mainly of large companies may increase their customer base by pursuing small and midsize companies.