52 | Market focus: brand protectionProtection for fighting fakes As counterfeiting continues to grow at a staggering rate, how does a company develop a brand protection strategy? Luis Rodriguez reportsounterfeiting across the globe is at an all-time high. QR marketing – brand by All4Labels, in a report provided to L&L.According to a 2019 report on international trade A study, carried out by Censuswide and sponsored by Digimarc, Cand counterfeiting by the Organization for Economic surveyed consumers across the UK and US to fnd out if their Cooperation and Development (OECD), the total value of desire for authentic products isn’t limited to only luxury items. counterfeit and pirated goods accounted for just over 3 percent of The study found that 40 percent of consumers believe that online world trade, an estimated 590 billion USD. That number is expected shopping has added to the sale of counterfeit goods. This study to have nearly tripled, and is predicted to grow to a monumental also found that 67 percent of consumers are worried about product 2.3 trillion USD by the end of 2022. authenticity when buying goods for their homes and families. Looking at the past decade, there have been many factors that Fifty-six percent of consumers are worried that they are purchasing have infuenced the growth of counterfeit goods. One of which is new products that may actually be counterfeit.the rising use of e-commerce websites such as Amazon, Alibaba, In the United States, this worry came to fruition during an infant Etsy and eBay. formula shortage in early 2022 when the market was fooded with In a 2021 report by Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president, counterfeit products packaged with forged labels. It left many worldwide selling partners services, the e-commerce giant detected, parents with packages that were expired or formula that contained seized and destroyed more than two million counterfeit goods ingredients that could be dangerous to infants requiring a special that were sent to its fulfllment centers. In the same report, Mehta diet due to certain allergies or intolerances.mentioned that less than 0.01 percent of all products sold on In terms of brand protection and security, this, according to Amazon received counterfeit complaints from customers. The Michael Welch, senior product manager at Avery Dennison Label company also has established its Counterfeit Crimes Unit which and Packaging Materials, is where brand owners should start taking looks to ‘build and refer cases to law enforcement, undertake notice of what protection methods they’re using to ensure only independent investigations or joint investigations with brands, and legitimate products reach a consumer’s home.pursue civil litigation against counterfeiters’. ‘For specifc products, it’s easy to take a more simplistic Each of these e-commerce companies are working to combat approach to brand protection. But for certain products, as the risk the rising number of counterfeit goods across the world, cracking to the consumer is heightened, brands must think about what down on a number of listings that are alleged to be counterfeit harm would come to the consumer if the products is tampered and avoiding any future lawsuits from global, luxury brands such as with,’ says Welch.Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. This, however, comes at a time when This rise in counterfeiting and the growing concern from consumers are beginning to be more skeptical of the authenticity of consumers about purchasing counterfeit goods has been many products and not just luxury goods. exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the increased ‘In addition to the most common categories of counterfeited consumer demand, the shifting value chain and unpredictable clothes and luxury products seized, because of the pandemic, there supply chains, coupled with the subsequent shortages across many is a growing trade in fake products which has the potential risk on markets, counterfeiters have found new opportunities to trade in humans’ health, such as counterfeit medicines, food and beverages, fake items, exploiting weaknesses by offering similar products at a cosmetics and toys,’ says Paola Iannone, vice president marketing lower-than-average price point.and communications, and Nicolas Günther, managing director of ‘The Covid-19 pandemic has overwhelmed global business and, to date, has created the most substantial negative supply chain security effect in history,’ notes the International Chamber of “For specifc products, it’s easy to take a more simplistic approach to brand protection. But for certain products, as the risk to the consumer is heightened, brands have to think about what harm would come to the consumer if it’s tampered with”RFID offers for more than just security, bringing traceability to the product itself to see each step on its path in the supply chainlabelsandlabeling.com