How e-commerce platforms today facilitate the spread of counterfeit goods

Amazon is launched in Sweden, and this opens up a great opportunity for Swedish brands to be seen in one of the world’s largest marketplaces. But along with opportunity you will also face challenges in keeping track of your brand.

In connection with the exposure of your brand online, the challenges also come. Marketplaces make it easier to spread counterfeit goods. Below we have summarized insights we gained;

• Every week, worldwide, millions of infringements occur online.
• Counterfeit goods are no longer sold only on suspicious pages, but are also largely flourishing in various kinds of marketplaces.
• Counterfeiters often copy the information about the products from the brand’s real ads, which makes it harder to alert potential buyers to the counterfeits.
• The fact that the goods are sold on a recognized marketplace increases the feeling of security for the potential buyer, and thus risks people buying a counterfeit.
• As consumers' buying behavior has changed, even counterfeiters take advantage of the opportunities to promote on social media and through various digital channels.
• Platforms such as Facebook and WeChat (a popular messaging app in China) have built-in platforms for selling goods. This means that counterfeiters can contact potential buyers more directly, with an increased number of marketplaces the counterfeiters can use the more work it is to detect them.

What can you do to prevent these problems?

It is important to understand the challenges of marketplaces even if you choose not to distribute your goods and brand there. There is a risk that others will abuse your brand and make it illegal. Therefore, you need to monitor these marketplaces through various monitoring services. Here at Abion we provide Monitor Services for this cause. We work to protect your brand in all its parts - legally, digitally and technically. We are specialists in brand security and our lawyers, IT technician and consultants work closely in teams to help our clients counteract infringement on a daily basis.