India has a thriving black market for fake, stolen, and illegally imported portable electronics and accessories. Fear among businesses has been stoked by inadequate measures to check for counterfeiting, and bulk procurement at lower prices from China has facilitated this. As a result, some of the first counterfeit electronic copies can be found in major city hubs. Since covid-19, fake goods are also being sold on various online marketplaces.
Experts in the field have also voiced concerns about the dangers that counterfeiting poses to businesses’ bottom lines and consumers’ well-being. According to an academic study, risks to consumer life due to poor quality and lack of checks, tarnished brand image, and tax fraud are just some of the issues that “counterfeit goods” in consumer electronics cause.
But there are ways to overcome the counterfeit market, and here are the top 4 strategies you can follow!
Technology Can Help
Technology is the most crucial thing in today’s time, and it is all more important when it comes to tracking counterfeits. In this virtual age and time, it has become impossible to monitor anything without technological help. Technology can help any business identify counterfeits earlier in the game. Once the business can identify the flaw, it can stop or fix it.
High-end technologies can compare products and look intricately into the design and packaging and determine the product’s authenticity. If there is something fake that has been disguised as an original copy, technology can find the difference and tell you if there is any chance of a counterfeit.
Product Registration
Counterfeit products do not have any legal registration. Any product produced by the business needs to be uniquely registered first by the company itself. This registration adds authenticity to each product; the registration number is the only thing that helps any business separate one product from another.
Once a product gets registered, the registration number is immediately stored in the machine. This registration number is unique, and the tech picks the identification code to differentiate the counterfeit item from the original one. This is one of the most reliable option for determining counterfeits before looking into the design, packaging, and other crucial details.
Easier Product Identification Through Brand Labels
There are other ways to identify counterfeits, and one popular way is through brand labels. Any product produced by the company will contain the brand name or label or at least have an impression of the company logo somewhere on the product or the package. This is a process of branding each product that also comes in handy in the time of identifying.
Every product goes through a branding process, from small to big items, and even in the digital setting. The brand label is added to each product to separate it from its competitors when it gets to the market. The company designs the brand label, which is made to look attractive with easter eggs from the company, like the logo or the brand name in the original font and style. These Brand labels can be also used for link the Brands with their customers digitally.
Market Monitoring
When you get to the top as a brand, your chances of developing enemies become all the more real. They will do anything from imitating you to ripping off your entire idea. As a top brand, you must ensure this does not happen. And the only way to do so is to keep an open mind and try to catch the mishaps as soon as possible.
Using modern age technology a brand can to monitor the whole market and see if its products are being imitated and sold at a lower price but also with low quality. This not only hurts the profit of the company, but it could also hurt the reputation of the company if not taken care of early. Once you come in contact with any counterfeit material, you can report the seller.
Conclusion
The brand is responsible for presenting products they consider eligible for sale. They will not give away broken or damaged products. Quality checks are included at every step. Hence, the fear of counterfeiting remains heavy, but it can be stopped with a few quick steps.