The customer is always right claims the customer makes to be proper, and if we always settle them at face value, we shall be subjected to inevitable losses." The work concluded "If the customer is made perfectly to understand what it means for him to be right, what right on his part is, then he can be depended on to be right if he is honest, and if he is dishonest, a little effort should result in catching him at it." An article a year later by the same author addressed the "caveat emptor" aspect while raising many of the same points as the earlier
What Do You Mean? also debuted at number one the "Billboard" Hot Digital Songs chart, selling 337,000 copies in the week ending September 3, 2015—marking Bieber's second number one single on the chart, following "Boyfriend" which sold 521,000 in its debut week. In its second week, "What Do You Mean?" stayed at the top of the Hot Digital Songs chart with sales of 159,000 copies, however, it descended to number three on the Hot 100, with a decrease of 30% in overall activity, but rebounded to the runner-up spot the following week and stayed as the best-selling song with 128,000 downloads. On the chart