Examples of Very Large Customers

Very Large Customers purchase about
50% of the market volume.

Example 1: Echo Bay has contracted to deliver 291,358 ounces of gold to a consortium of banks in March 2002, and it will be paid $100 million at that time for a realized price of $343/oz.
(Year 1997-SIC 1041)

Explanation: This bank consortium is a Very Large Customer in the gold market, purchasing at least $100 million of gold in a year.

Example 2: Within a six-week period at the end of 1995 and early 1996, Shaw announced plans to buy the Maxim Group, which owns or franchises 548 Carpet Max stores. Less than a week later, Shaw Industries again dumbfounded the industry by announcing that it would buy Carpetland USA, the nation's fifth-largest flooring chain.
(Year 1996-SIC 2273)

Explanation: The Maxim Group and Carpetland USA are both Very Large Customers in the carpet business.

Example 3: The largest brewers and beverage bottlers commanded significant discounts as container manufacturers saw their capacity utilization falling. Anheuser-Busch, which in 1981 purchased 10% of the glass container industry's dollar volume, Miller, and Coca-Cola were the first to see discounts.
(Year 1993-SIC 3221)

Explanation: Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coca-Cola are Very Large Customers for the glass container industry.

Example 4: In 1980, the bicycle business began a transformation. Cheap imports, mainly from Taiwan, ravaged Murray's core business of selling bicycles to J.C. Penney and Sears.
(Year 1987-SIC 3751)

Explanation: J.C. Penny and Sears are Very Large Customers in the bicycle industry.

Example 5: GM is the nation's largest steel consumer; the auto giant buys roughly 8% of total U.S. output.
(Year 1985-SIC 3312)

Explanation: GM is a Very Large Customer in the steel market.