Consumer Confusion and Its Impact on Brand Loyalty and Decision Postponement: An Empirical Study of FMCG Professionals in an Emerging Indian Market

AbstractIn highly competitive FMCG markets, product similarity, information overload, andambiguous marketing communication increasingly generate consumer confusion. This studyexamines the impact of consumer confusion on brand loyalty and decision postponementamong FMCG professionals in an emerging Indian context. Drawing on consumer confusiontheory, confusion is conceptualised as a multidimensional construct comprising similarity,overload, and ambiguity confusion. Primary data collected from FMCG professionals in Kerala were analysed using reliability testing, multiple regression, one-way ANOVA, andpost-hoc analysis within an SEM-oriented framework. The findings show that consumerconfusion significantly reduces brand loyalty while increasing decision postponement.Similarity confusion has the strongest negative effect on brand loyalty, whereas overloadconfusion most strongly drives purchase delay. The study extends consumer behaviourliterature in an emerging market context and offers practical insights for reducing confusionand improving decision-making.