Luxury Brand Protection – What is it and why is it needed?
High end, luxury brands remain one of the most targeted industries for counterfeiters. Luxury goods such as watches, perfumes or leather goods are amongst the most popular products to counterfeit. This criminal trade has risen over the years as demand for fake luxury goods also unfortunately continues to increase. Consumers have an increasing desire to showcase their social status through high-end, luxury brands, which is enabling the counterfeit market to flourish. Last year alone, the counterfeit luxury goods market was worth a huge $3 trillion, three times higher than the value observed in 2013.
Anti-counterfeit solutions are currently being used by most luxury brands, however these solutions are often not enough, and the rise in fake goods seems never ending. So, what impact are counterfeit products having on high-end brands and crucially, are there new anti-counterfeit solutions which can easily be deployed to fully protect luxury brands going forward?
The impact of counterfeit products on the brand
When counterfeit products enter the market, the brand will be affected almost immediately. Not only will they experience a loss in revenue due to consumers’ purchase of these counterfeit products, but the relationship between the brand and the consumer will also be damaged.
One study has shown that counterfeit luxury goods negatively impacts the consumer’s perception of the luxury brand and its products. In particular, the consumer’s perception of the product’s quality is dramatically reduced, and in turn, consumers’ brand associations become increasingly negative. Data from Stefanin (2022) suggests that due to stratospheric rise in online sales, counterfeit luxury goods are now more available than ever, with 40% of counterfeit luxury goods sales occurring online. What makes it worse is that many consumers are unaware that they are buying counterfeit goods – 30% of consumers within this study admitted to unknowingly purchasing counterfeit luxury goods in the last 5 years, and 24% in the last 12 months.
In the luxury market, where prestige and expense rule, fake goods are significantly damaging the hard-earned brand reputation of many luxury goods manufacturers, but what can be done about it?
Luxury brand authentication
The answer to this question lies within brand and product authentication. In order for consumers to buy luxury goods confidently, they must be able to verify that the goods purchased are indeed from the brand itself and are not fakes.
Many anti-counterfeit solutions already exist. QR codes, for example, are a popular tool used by brands worldwide, but these codes are increasingly failing to combat the sophisticated counterfeit technologies currently being employed by criminals. With many current anti-counterfeit solutions being developed using visual differences at the macro-level, they are easy to copy and clone, with counterfeiters having little trouble in replicating these QR codes.
The next generation of luxury brand protection
Here at Quantum Base, we understand the global demand for an unbreakable anti-counterfeit solution, so we have developed just that.
Our Q-ID® Optical QR codes harness the power of quantum technology. Thanks to the inherent randomness of the quantum materials which we embed in each code, our QR codes differ at the micro-level, making it absolutely impossible for a counterfeit producer to copy, clone or fake them. In addition, due to this randomness, we can produce billions of unique “quantum fingerprint” QR codes to provide individual unique identities down to individual product level – ideal for global trace and trace capabilities, as well as defeating the counterfeiters.
Manufactured at extremely low costs, our Q-ID® codes can be integrated into existing manufacturing process with ease and their flexible design means they can fit onto any packaging.
Best of all? They are authenticated by your consumers with a standard smartphone camera in seconds. Not only will this allow you to secure your supply chain and track your products globally, but your end consumer has the power to authenticate your product using nothing more than their phone. With consumer-led authentication, Quantum Base and our Q-ID®s are empowering brands by redefining global product security, while creating consumer global market and ESG data in real-time.
Do you want to protect your brand from counterfeits?
The counterfeit market is growing, and it is time we took the next step for luxury brand protection. Our team are on hand to answer any questions you may have regarding our product, and the onboarding process. Get in touch with us, or learn more about our anti-counterfeit solution here.
