The barriers to converting the online ‘whack-a-mole’ approach to real-world success?
Before looking at how you can move from fighting counterfeiters online to tackling them in the real world, you have to consider the barriers you’ll face.
The barriers to tackling real-world counterfeiters
There are several issues when it comes to tackling real-world counterfeiters:
1. Lack of understanding the threat of Counterfeiters
Sometimes, businesses are content with accepting the percentage losses due to counterfeiting and will decide not to invest in a proactive strategy.
In fact, a company we worked with took this route initially, and it nearly crippled their business.
2. Entrenched attitudes
These have been a considerable barrier when trying to move from online to real-world investigations, as it all seems too difficult, risky, and expensive with no guarantee of success.
And there are internal pressures to demonstrate success, like: ‘We need seizures now to satisfy the ROI!’
3. Counterfeit Whack-a-mole thinking
For many Brand Owners and their Brand Managers, the whack-a-mole approach is the end game as it satisfies all of the above and demonstrates a positive strategy that picks at the low-hanging fruit.
But is it effective for the long-term benefit of the brand?
It does provide a glimpse into the nature and scale of the problem with some information about whether the counterfeiter is a single “entrepreneur” or an organised business.
But what happens to that intelligence?
4. Data overwhelm
When faced with large volumes of data, it’s not uncommon for Brand Managers to feel overwhelmed as it’s almost impossible to see the wood for the trees, let alone see what needs to be prioritised from the gathered intelligence.
Why taking a ‘joined up’ approach to counterfeiting is essential
When tackling counterfeiters, a regional approach to investigations is necessary, but is it part of a joined-up approach from point of sale to country of manufacture.
But is it tackling the illicit supply chain?
In our view, no.
Each region (and business unit) looks after its own needs and can’t or won’t see the bigger picture.
The manager/team in the country of manufacture will have many leads, and they focus on the in-country manufacturers, with limited emphasis on downstream illicit supply chains. This, in turn, causes a disconnect in the investigational ambitions between the country of manufacture, illegal supply chain and point of sale.
We could look at this further, but let’s leave it here for now…
In our next article, we’re going to look at some of the principles we believe underpin what a real-world investigation could look like if we navigated the ‘disconnection’ of working together on a multi-disciplined investigation.