Consumer confusion
Consumer confusion is a state of mind that leads to
Confusion
Confusion occurs when a consumer fails to correctly understand or interpret products and services.
Causes
Choice overload
Similarity
Similarity is where two or more products lack differentiating features which prevents the consumer easily distinguishing between them. Differentiating features could be any from the marketing mix or anything else associated with the product such as brand. Similarity of products has the negative effect on the consumer of increasing the cognitive effort required to make a decision.[7] and reducing the perception of accuracy of decision. Both of these reduce the satisfaction with a decision and thereby satisfaction with the purchase.[8]
Lack of information
A consumer may suffer from lack of information if the information doesn't exist, is unavailable to them at the required moment or is too complex for them to use in their decision making process.
Information overload
Too much information surrounding a product or service disturbs the consumer by forcing them to engage in a more complex and time-consuming purchasing process. This, and the fact that it is difficult to compare and value the information when it is superfluous, leaves the consumer unsatisfied, insecure regarding what choice to make, and more prone to delay the decision-making, and thereby the actual purchase.[9][10]
Lack of consistency
When information provided on a product and/or service is not consistent with the consumer's previously held beliefs and convictions, ambiguity occurs in the understanding of the product.[9]
Law
The likelihood of confusion test turns on several factors,[11] including:
- Strength of the plaintiff's trademark;
- Degree of similarity between the two marks at issue;
- Similarity of the goods and services at issue;
- Evidence of actual confusion;
- Purchaser sophistication;
- Quality of the defendant's goods or services;
- Defendant's intent in adopting the mark.
Initial interest confusion occurs when a mark is used to attract a consumer, but upon inspection there is no confusion. This type of confusion is well-recognized for Internet searches, where a consumer may be looking for the site of one company, and a second site mimics keywords and metadata to draw hits from the "real" site.
Point of sale confusion occurs when a consumer believes their product to be from a company which it is not.
Post sale confusion occurs after a product is purchased, and third parties mistakenly think that the product is produced by a different, generally more prestigious, brand.
References
- .
- S2CID 167714306.
- ^ Soloman, M R Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having and Being. Prentice Hall p.7
- ^ Darden; Griffin (1994).
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(help) - ^ Baumol; Ide (1956).
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(help) - ^ a b Broniarczyk, S M (2008). "Product Assortment and Consumer Psychology".
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(help) - ^ Loken, M (1986).
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(help) - ISSN 2056-4112.
- ^ S2CID 59271745.
- ISBN 978-3-319-45595-2, retrieved 4 May 2023
- ^ a b Polaroid v. Polarad, 287 F.2d 492 (2nd Cir. 1961).