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.

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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

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Comprehensive Anti-Counterfeiting Solutions to Protect Your Brand

The brand counterfeiting phenomena have almost become omnipresent with the advent of internet technologies. Even as companies spend millions to build global brands, the internet with its wide reach can easily put such brands at risk– resulting in not just undermining the marketing investments they have made, but also eroding the brand and its reputation and losing customer trust. It has been on the rise over the past few years and is considered as an acute concern across all industries.

However, with fraudsters growing more and more sophisticated, it’s important for businesses to clearly understand the nature of the threats that they face and also take the necessary steps to protect their brands and customers. Loss of revenue caused by counterfeiting of an enterprise’s brand and intellectual property rights is serious business. Enterprises need to be aware that their products are being counterfeited and should be proactive to get a solution and strategy to tackle the same. While some solutions merely scan the internet to detect any brand and trademark violation, most of the other brand protection solutions strives to constantly be one step ahead of the counterfeiter, by operating a series of intelligence networks and providing early warning on current trends and criminal organizations.

It becomes very difficult for legitimate manufacturers to prevent brand counterfeiting considering the sophisticated techniques that counterfeiters use. Ideally a successful anti-counterfeiting strategy needs to incorporate several quantitative methods to protect your brands against these threats. Organizations today need to resort to new brand monitoring solutions that will protect them from revenue loss, increased liability risks and brand erosion. There are several renowned service providers specializing in brand protection solutions who have also introduced efficient brand anti-counterfeiting solutions to put an end to this menace.

While every business is aware of the need to implement effective measures that produce convincing and compelling results, it is the right solution that makes all the difference.  Look for a comprehensive anti-counterfeiting solution that has the capability to identify the most egregious offenders and deliver vital results. The solution you opt for must deter all brand counterfeiting attempts by launching an aggressive campaign. They must also keep a close watch on popular online auctioning sites, use automated processes for monitoring the activities of the suspicious online sellers and provide a detailed audit trail of website listings.

By choosing an efficient brand protection solution, businesses have the opportunity to stop the fraudulent activities from affecting their image and bottom line.

Read More About: brand management