It is no news that the counterfeiting nemesis is becoming more rampant and aggressive by the day; According to the United States Department of Treasury, an estimated $70 – $200 million in counterfeit bills are in circulation at any given time. According to a report by the ECC-Net (European Consumer Network), between March and August 2016, 562 cases of counterfeits were reported to the network of European Consumer Centers 1. Most of the goods that were bought in these cases were clothes, shoes, or electronic devices.
Are you a brand that has just been introduced to the market and scared of your product getting sold illegally? Or are you an established brand that is regularly victimized by counterfeiting? Do you incur regular losses in business owing to counterfeiting or having trouble winning the trust of your customers? Then you are not alone as many businesses are susceptible to either of the above. Although counterfeiting has been around for a long time, the advent of technology has intensified the activities of illegal trade more than ever before.
Counterfeiting – Building a brand is a Herculean task. Besides the germination of an idea, research and innovation behind it and the years of painstaking effort that is put in the creation of brands is akin to seeing one’s baby grow from a toddler into a youngster. Each stage of evolution is put through an immense number of challenges and thus, when a brand carves a niche, it stands as a testament to the hard work and assiduity of the people who have been associated with it.
Pets, for most of us, are an integral part of our lives. Be it the cuteness of a pooch or the agility of a feline, the crisp in the twittering of birds or the calmness of fishes in the tank, the presence of pets in a household is tantamount to therapy that ushers in happiness and bliss. We are all privy to the role pets play in any household, from helping to increase our physical activities, which has become vital especially with remote working setups, to helping us deal with anxiety issues and depressions, pets are the miraculous creatures that not only warm the cockles of our hearts, but also take the cudgel of keeping our health in place. While they help in keeping us healthy and fit, there are occasions in which we inadvertently put their lives at risk.
The holiday season is underway, and while the menace of counterfeit products has been prevalent for decades, incidences of food counterfeiting during the Yuletide season are on a steady rise, due to an increase in online shopping which has been catalysed by the Covid pandemic.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) has warned consumers of a spike in counterfeit products this holiday season. In Fiscal Year 2020, the agency estimates the total value of seized counterfeit goods to be nearly $1.3 billion. Experts have predicted that the present supply-chain problems and the resulting shortages will lead to fake goods circulating in the market.
The pharmaceutical industry has been one of the most profitable targets for counterfeiters for years; In recent times however, the activities of counterfeiters within the sector have increased by several hundred folds. According to a report from The World Economic Forum published in February 2015, counterfeit drugs have been identified as one of the biggest risks facing the world today.
Brand Protection – For brands, counterfeiting poses a business, legal, and ethical issue. While counterfeit products make the brand less competitive in the market, they also open room for uninvited lawsuits from customers, organizations, and government agencies. At the same time, it raises an ethical question; are you, as a brand, doing enough to prevent counterfeiting of your products? It is not a healthy situation when it is easier to grab counterfeits of your product than the actual product – you are creating an environment of distrust for your customers.
The rise of ecommerce and social media as an affordable medium to market and sell products has led to the enormous growth for the cosmetics industry. According to a report, the global cosmetics industry was valued at around USD 532 billion in 2017, and it is expected to reach approximately USD 863 billion in 2024; growing above 7% CAGP between 2018 and 2024.
In 2018 according to some estimates, around 4.6 million bottles of Spanish rosé wine made their way into French cafes, hotels, and restaurants disguised as original French rosé wine. The law enforcement agencies and wine industry officials could not do much as the two wine types could not be told apart in packaging and taste. The suspected counterfeiting in the French wine industry was particularly upsetting for wine growers who were looking on helplessly as their income dropped.
