Statistics have shown information about how big the market of counterfeit is, how are they affecting the company’s revenue. Still, the reason for consumer switch was not determined and whether the consumer knew what they were buying the counterfeit product or not was a blur up till now. 

The questions that brands have:

• What are the motivations in purchase decisions?
• How these purchase decisions are made?
• What can be done to change these purchase decisions?

How to make the Customer refrain from using counterfeit products:

Answer to these questions are:

• Perceived Risk
• Perceived Ethicality

Utility: Customer tends to evaluate the decision of taking in a counterfeit product based on the main reason that is utility. They differentiate the quality of the counterfeit to that product which is available at the same price and the quality of the counterfeit comes on to be on the upper end as compared to the price. The consumer focuses on the value of the product that is counterfeit but still is a higher value than other products offered at the same price. This thinking is only true for consumers that are buying from the fashion and textile industry. Even the consumers that are brand loyal may not think that way, this is only a perspective of a regular customer.

Risk Assumption: The Consumer takes a calculated risk in case of purchasing counterfeits. The perceived risks are less when it comes to the fashion and textile industry, which are relatively higher in other industries such as Alcoholic beverages and FMCG industry. The risks coming along with a purchase of counterfeits can be health and safety, social embarrassment and criminal association. Due to the lack of laws against buying counterfeits the consumer continues to do so.

Social Influence: The need of fitting-in in the network is overpowering enough to make the consumer ignore these risks. This contributes to the factor that influences the consumer mindset for purchasing counterfeits for wanted to be part of a social group. The status or the income is a consideration when it comes to buying originals that are way too costly to keep the income balanced.

For changing these perceptions about counterfeit purchases, the brand needs to make the customer more involved. The companies try to gain their consumer’s attention by their products and excellence of production that they put in for their products which are certainly not enough. The way you show your consumers that you care about them is the selling point. Once the trust between consumer and provider is set up towards a consumer, their loyalty can be achieved. 

The customer base should be strengthened by involving them in information about the logistics that are getting delivered to them. Which is currently being used today as a form of tracking but along with tracking how does the consumer know that the product that has come through the supply chain is original or not. For this, a solution can be a system that enables tracking throughout the supply chain, is tamper-proof and is not hackable or decodable. 

SCoT is one such technology that can improve your consumer base with supply chain tracking along with the assurance that the product which was sent to the consumer is value for its money. Along with these features, SCoT labels are paired along with the SMTP(SCoT Management and Tracking Portal) server that lets the company capture seasonal trends as well as geographical trends that generate the smart data that can be used to make the brand, even more, user-friendly, hence making the consumer base strong and improving the reliability factor.

For more details, Contact us: info@noostehnologies.com

Source: Research Paper on Understanding Counterfeit Consumption by Felix Tang. (Link)