Anti-Counterfeiting Solutions To Combat Brand Dissolution

In the past fake branded products were sold at the back-street market stalls or by vendors carrying suitcases on the streets. Today this phenomena has become even more pervasive with the advent of internet technologies and eCommerce and are attracting purchasers from various sections. Thus, brand counterfeiting has been on the rise over the past few years and is considered as an acute concern across all industries. However, in case of consumer goods, electronic products, medical drugs and devices, automotive and the high-tech industry, brand counterfeiting is risky as it affects the consumer’s health and safety apart from the company’s profits and brand equity.

Brand counterfeiting has been gaining prominence globally with third party traders and counterfeiters making use of sophisticated methods online to trick consumers by selling fake and duplicate goods. According to the International Chamber of Commerce and World Customs Organization, the overall value of counterfeit goods was estimated to be $1 trillion globally in the year 2010. With online trading and eCommerce flourishing it is only expected to rise if adequate measures are not implemented.

At times it becomes very difficult for legitimate manufacturers to combat brand counterfeiting considering the techniques that counterfeiters use. Therefore, it is essential for manufacturing to invest in anti-counterfeiting and online brand protection solutions. This will protect them from revenue loss, increased liability risks and brand erosion. Keeping this in mind, eminent service providers specializing in online brand protection solutions have introduced efficient brand anti-counterfeiting solutions to put an end to brand counterfeiting.

Features of Brand Anti-Counterfeiting Solutions

Brand anti-counterfeiting solution concentrates on resolving issues related to product counterfeiting with its innovative search method to manage activities for any number of goods globally. The search engine tracks details on product pricing, product quantities and the discount percentages that are being offered by the counterfeiters. The end users can view all this information through a user-configurable chart on their dashboards. Moreover, the solution provides a company risk index that prioritizes the suspects as per their risk quotient and displays them on the dashboard.  The visibility and analysis you get from anti counterfeit solution enables a proactive response to online anti fraud detection.

Advanced brand anti-counterfeiting solutions also provide a comprehensive end-to-end brand management protection solution that comprises of investigation and innovative enforcement services that can efficiently curb down the operations of brand violators without investing in expensive and time consuming trials.

Read More About: gray market

Importance of Curtailing Gray Market Sales

Gray market goods have a substantial impact on brand equity. The influence of marketing communications initiatives on brand equity has been gaining significant attention of late. This is due to the changing international accounting standards associated with the reporting of the financial value of tangible assets which in turn is a result of increased focus on the impact of marketing communication on brand performance. The marketing activities by gray marketers are beyond the control of authorized distributors and might not project situations consistent with those planned by the manufacturer or the authorized distribution network. Hence, it is essential to estimate the impact of gray marketing on the brand equity.

Gray markets have been a major concern for the retailers and manufacturers since the mid 1980’s. The international gray market size is somewhere estimated between from $US7 billion to $US10 billion.

Gray Market and Counterfeiting

Gray Marketing is not same as counterfeiting. According to Duhan and Sheffet, the term “gray” suggests an “almost black market”. Gray market activities involve selling the trademarked goods and products through distribution channels that are unauthorized by the trademark holders. When gray market activities take place across international borders then the term “parallel importing” is used. Gray markets results in loss of brand reputation as well as loss of revenue.

In order to combat the dangers of gray market activities companies specializing in enterprise risk management have come up with brand protection solution, in the form of a SaaS based software that can halt gray market sales. The software effectively monitors open markets on an end-to-end basis for buy/sell listings of products and part numbers with the help of advanced search agents. These search agents also trace detailed market information from a wide range of market types that includes:

• Franchise and large distribution websites
• Independent and gray market websites
• Email-based forums that aggregate buy/sell listings
• Trade boards
• Auction sites
• Chat
• B2C sites
• Blogs
• B2B sites
  

Contrary to the generic brand protection solutions this Saas based software delivers data directly from a website to the end user in a complete, multi-dimensional market intelligence format. Referring to this format the users can have customized dashboards, custom report views and create user formatted export files. All vital information is accessible and can be used within a perceptive interface. This assists investigators to develop and manage case histories, evaluate evidence and understand the link between partners, suspect companies and other related contacts

Read More About: brand management