How Retailers Create Demand for Counterfeit Brands – and what to do about it

According to experts from Brand Monitor, an online and offline market surveillance company, the demand for counterfeits of specific brands is generated not so much by end consumers as by retailers, who tend to piggyback off the marketing campaigns and reputation of brand owners, and then attract consumers with the offer of lower prices.

Since there will always be suppliers and manufacturers around to satisfy the demand generated by retailers, counterfeiting will continue to flourish, despite the efforts of brand protection teams, said the experts, in an article published in World Trademark Review. Therefore, to have a tangible impact on the market, the focus must not only be on the source of counterfeit goods (manufacturers, distributors) but also on the source of demand for those goods (retailers).

The good news is that sellers of counterfeit goods are rarely willing to expend efforts on legal battles, and prefer to just stop selling the counterfeits.