Consumer and Industrial
Online Protection for Brands
Safeguarding brand identities, reputations, and revenues online.
Online presence is a necessity for product brands. Consumers now research, purchase, and follow brands digitally, but brand identities and revenues are being put at risk.
Having an online presence is not optional. The value of e-commerce has topped $6 trillion and continues to grow rapidly. Marketplaces are effective storefronts for product companies and social media is a major influencer of consumers. But online accounts for more than 70% of all counterfeits sold, costing the clothing industry almost $28 billion a year alone. As customer acquisition costs rise, loyalty and retention have become priceless.
Counterfeiting has moved far beyond mere irritation – 28% of counterfeit and fraud relates to organized crime, with networks disappearing and reappearing frequently.
But bad actors target this trust for their own purposes, impersonating brands for gain. Digital channels also fragment distribution and fuel unauthorized product sales. Trade diversion costs product brands millions, with consumer electronics particularly hard hit. And the online world changes fast. Web3 and the metaverse beckon with new opportunities, but bad actors are minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs) even before brand owners.
Countering online threats to brands involves considerable complexity.
Counterfeiting has moved far beyond mere irritation and brand imitation and fraud are related threats that exploit trusted identities for gain. But while false associations are clear infringements, they do not cross legally into fraud. So brands need to tackle the distinctive detection and enforcement traits of both, while taking a joint approach to spot related threats. Marketplace monitoring can also help deal with unauthorized online selling.
