It is no news that the counterfeiting nemesis is becoming more rampant and aggressive by the day; According to the United States Department of Treasury, an estimated $70 – $200 million in counterfeit bills are in circulation at any given time. According to a report by the ECC-Net (European Consumer Network), between March and August 2016, 562 cases of counterfeits were reported to the network of European Consumer Centers 1. Most of the goods that were bought in these cases were clothes, shoes, or electronic devices.
The ease of doing business in most parts of the globe is facilitating the growth of new businesses every day. Increasingly, small and medium-sized brands are sprouting across the world. Although globalization and advancement in technology have made it easier to establish brands, they are susceptible to umpteen challenges as well. While starting a new brand is easy, making it successful in today’s globalized economy is a big challenge for small and medium-sized companies.
Are you a brand that has just been introduced to the market and scared of your product getting sold illegally? Or are you an established brand that is regularly victimized by counterfeiting? Do you incur regular losses in business owing to counterfeiting or having trouble winning the trust of your customers? Then you are not alone as many businesses are susceptible to either of the above. Although counterfeiting has been around for a long time, the advent of technology has intensified the activities of illegal trade more than ever before.
Are you aware of what is being served on your plate, and what you are feeding your body? Food security has become a major debate in recent times; it is in fact one of the towering problems that the food industry has been battling with for antiquity. Food fraud is a public-health food risk which has become a source of concern for all, and it poses danger for living things. It encompasses deliberate and intentional substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food, food ingredient, food packaging or misleading statements about edible items for economic gain.
A lot goes into the manufacturing of a product; especially with the luxury market, each product that goes out is the result of countless brainstorming, designing, and skilled craftsmanship. Imagine these products that are crafted by the manufacturer being sold in non-approved distribution channels instead of making it to the actual market it is meant to be sold in.
Circa late 2019, an unwanted guest made its way into our world, and changed it forever. A tiny virus crippled the world and showed us how powerless we can be. Unprecedented events unfolded, bringing the world to a standstill. Economies crashed and health systems went for a toss as the world braved a pandemic. Covid 19, became a game-changer, ushering in a paradigm shift in different areas of human endeavours.
Counterfeiting – Building a brand is a Herculean task. Besides the germination of an idea, research and innovation behind it and the years of painstaking effort that is put in the creation of brands is akin to seeing one’s baby grow from a toddler into a youngster. Each stage of evolution is put through an immense number of challenges and thus, when a brand carves a niche, it stands as a testament to the hard work and assiduity of the people who have been associated with it.
