Ecommerce platforms have become a breeding ground for counterfeiters to sell fake products and cause more severe problems for the brand selling quality products. As a result, it creates a wrong impression and harmful effects on the customer about the brand.
Counterfeit goods account for 3.3% of global trade. Wait, what? I had never heard that before.
Let’s make it simple.
For example, if you buy a product from an unknown seller from an unknown eCommerce site that sells you the brand product at a lower cost than the actual product cost and says, “It’s a discount from the brand itself.”
Are these sneakers fake or real? How do you check the originality? Have you ever thought about these questions?
The difficulty is identifying the original product, the quality, and the risk of using it.
Isn’t that weird? Most customers fall for these tricks of buying counterfeit products and harm themselves later.
According to a survey, 46% of people purchase counterfeit products without knowing it.
So, how can a brand protect from counterfeits?
Let us know about counterfeit first,
Counterfeiting is the act of making or selling fake products that are designed to look like genuine ones. Counterfeiters typically use poorer-quality materials and lower manufacturing standards, which means that their products are often inferior to the real thing.
The lack of awareness among the consumers is one of the common reasons for counterfeiting.
There are countless products impacted by counterfeit, including fashion, music, accessories, software, pharmaceuticals, vehicle parts, electronics, and many others.
For example, you visited a shop to buy “Nike” or “Adidas” shoes. You loved the design; the cost is the same as seen in the online store, but the material and comfort are not the same as you have used before. The design, pricing, branding, and packaging design look the same, but the material quality makes it a brand.
With the growth in online eCommerce selling, the industries have seen one of the largest underground industries - Counterfeit - taking deeper roots and creating problems drastically for brands.
In this scenario, Anti-counterfeiting prevents the unauthorized production or distribution of counterfeit goods. In addition, it helps protect brands and customers from counterfeit products and ensures they are genuine and safe.
Various methods prevent counterfeiting, from anti-counterfeiting packaging to complex security features like barcodes, holograms, digital watermarks, RIF, and many others.
Anti-counterfeit packaging assigns secure packaging to your products to minimize counterfeiting or infringement. Many brands use barcode technology in their packaging. Buyers can scan barcodes and recognize the originality of brand products.
The counterfeiting problem becomes more prevalent as the world becomes more globalized. Counterfeit products are often made with inferior materials that threaten consumers' health and safety and impact brands' reputations.
That's why it's so crucial for companies to focus on anti-counterfeit packaging.
Anti-counterfeit packaging is packaging that is designed to deter counterfeiters. This can be done in several ways, such as using special inks or seals that are difficult to reproduce or including security features to verify the authenticity of a product.
There are many reasons why companies should focus on anti-counterfeit packaging. Not only does it help to protect consumers, but it also helps to protect the company's brand and reputation.
There are different types of Anti-Counterfeit Solutions; let’s learn more about them.
Types of Anti-Counterfeit Solutions
1. Overt
Overt solutions are easily identifiable and recognizable that can be easily integrated into packaging or product, labels, and documentation to facilitate spot visual authentication.
The overt solutions are challenging to replicate and help prevent counterfeit products. It includes using Holograms, Barcodes, QR codes, NFC, and many others.
The overt solution can be used by the public and allows the brand to engage with consumers.
2. Covert
Covert solutions are security elements that are not visible to human eyes and are hidden from shoppers. Special technology is needed to verify the product's authenticity and is not intended for the general public.
The covert solution is typically used to track and trace the product to ensure it doesn't fall out of the authorized supply chain. It includes micro-text, UV blacklight ink, Taggants, Intentional defect, unique synthetic tagging, and many others. Unfortunately, the covert solution cannot be replicated easily and requires special equipment that is difficult to acquire.
Professionals can use these solutions as it requires minimal equipment.
3. Forensic
Forensic solutions are more covert and cannot be duplicated. However, forensic solutions need special equipment for counterfeiting detection, unlike covert solutions.
The products have to be sent to laboratories for validation. The Forensic solution includes chemical tagging, biological tagging, DNA tagging, Isotope ratios, and many others.
These solutions are difficult to implement and require a certain degree of expertise.
4. Digital
Digital forensic have become the “go-to solution” to reduce frauds, counterfeiting, economic damages, health risks, and other crimes.
The digital solutions include using QR codes, RFID technologies, serialized numbers, NFC, blockchain, and many others. It helps to secure electronics, luxury, and pharmaceutical products across the entire value chain. These are more accurate and show real-time data.
This solution can only be used by professionals, brand-authorized persons, and owners.
We’ve covered the different solutions used to counterfeit the brand product. Investing in Anto-counterfeit solutions is critical and avoids the risk of building a negative reputation among the customers.
The rise of counterfeit products is not good news for companies and their trust among the customers, but with the latest anti-counterfeit packaging techniques, brands ensure the products are safe and secure.
Bizongo can help you create anti-counterfeit packaging, but how? Let’s discuss that in the next part. Stay Tuned!
