Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting is a type of brand infringement that produces imitations. This practice is equal to stealing, and fraudsters greatly profit out of this. Without the permission of the rightful owner, counterfeiters manufacture and sell fakes. They illicitly use various intellectual properties such as designs, patents, logos, and pictures. Counterfeit products aim to take advantage of the value of the original. Low-quality counterfeiters don’t use the trademark or logos of the original. Instead, they aim to produce many times cheaper yet similarly-looking imitations. These knock-offs trick customers into buying lower-quality products. More harmful are types of counterfeit that aim to duplicate the original. You’ll find them using the same designs, logos, and even materials. These counterfeiters usually have well-developed supply chains and function like a proper business. Still, they sell at lower prices and don’t provide the same quality. Damage caused by counterfeiting is diverse. In the simplest sense, it steals your sales. Frauds offer identical appearances for a lower price. The photos uploaded online can be original, so customers will not differentiate. Negative comments will spread quickly and the damage to your brand can be irreversible. Fraudsters will change brands, so you’ll be left to deal with this. Even worse is the impact on your business partners. Distributors and retailers might lose trust if you cannot handle counterfeits. Fakes lower the prices you have agreed on, reducing their profits.
Fighting against counterfeiting
There are many ways to deal with counterfeiting online, and some solutions might be industry-specific. But there are some widespread best practices. Here’s some of them: Share information. It should be a no-brainer, but some companies remain silent. If you find counterfeits, inform your partners and the government. Many organizations are fighting this together. AntiCounterfeiting Coalition(IACC) and the Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) are only a few examples. Target supply chains. Counterfeiters function just like any other business. They have their supply and delivery chains. Possibly, someone is participating in this unknowingly. Contact them and if it doesn’t help – file a lawsuit. Legally document your brand. Register your trademarks and patents internationally. It’s especially important in places with high manufacturing capabilities, such as China. Even if you don’t have a website, register your domain name. It will be hard to retrieve your rights if you don’t prepare beforehand. Educate customers. Most clients want to buy authentic products. The problem is they cannot differentiate. Show them the risks of buying counterfeit products, actively compare fakes with originals. More signs provided, fewer illicit copies sold. Some brands even reward their customers for reporting counterfeits. If you have loyal customers, this can be a serious force. Make yourself visible. Scammers operate worldwide, and so should you. Fortunately, most sales online happen in only a few marketplaces, such as amazon. Make sure to be at least visible there. The more visibility, the trickier target you are for counterfeiters. Track promotions. Counterfeit or not, the product has to be promoted. Fraudsters also use paid advertising, social media channels, and search engine optimization. Track this activity constantly and cleverly. Focus on products that are most profitable or easiest to counterfeit. Web scraping Once you take preventive action and trademark your brand, it’s time to gather the data. It’s an essential step in anti-counterfeiting. Only complete data can show you the right direction. Make sure to include a variety of marketplaces, e-commerce stores, social media websites, and SERPs. But data doesn’t come easy, and you have to gather large amounts of it. To do it manually is impractical, if not impossible. Web scraping tools, such as SERPMaster, are here to automate this process. Scraping uses bots to visit hundreds of websites and deliver the needed information in seconds. Then, SERPMaster formats the results for your convenient usage. All the data is accurate and provided in real-time. Try it out for yourself with a free trial. To kick start your anti-counterfeiting project, here are some guidelines.
Define the main keywords customers use to find your brand. Usually, they are 2 – 3 words long. If needed, select relevant images. For example, your logo or product photos. Provide a request to a web scraper and organize the data. I prefer using Google sheets. Compare the results with what you published. Submit removal requests or file a lawsuit.
Conclusion
Online counterfeiting harms any company. It can make a lot of losses in sales, time, and reputation. Fighting back is costly and time-consuming. But not taking any action is simply bad business.
