WIPR webinar: Protecting the ‘well-intentioned’ customer
Brands should focus on protecting the “well-intentioned” customer when identifying online counterfeiters.
That was the key message from Charlie Abrahams, senior vice president at MarkMonitor, during a joint webinar between the brand protection company and WIPR on Wednesday, October 17.
The webinar, called “A New Approach to Online Brand Protection”, focused on how brands can protect their rights in the developing technological age.
Abrahams said that the most popular question he gets asked is whether people who come across counterfeit goods online actually buy them.
He admitted that the quality of websites selling counterfeit goods has improved over the years and that it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between a genuine product and a fake one.
When a customer does come across a counterfeit product, they believe that it is often up to the brand to ensure that the consumer is protected, Abrahams explained.
“When we talk about trust, the interesting thing we found out is that the consumer really does think what they are seeing is the real thing,” he said.
If the customer sees a product on what appears to be a branded website, then they are highly likely to believe that it is a genuine product, according to Abrahams.
“We tend to think that the brand owner has some responsibility in protecting us,” he explained.
However, this can have a negative impact on a brand and be damaging to its reputation. Abrahams said that he has spoken to many brand owners who have received returned damaged items that customers thought were the genuine product.
One of the reasons for this is due to online shopping.
When a consumer makes a purchase online, they only see an image of the product, unlike when you buy something from a shop where you can physically touch it.
“You buy something on the basis of the photograph and the reputation of the website, but you don’t actually get to see it until a few days later,” he observed.
Breadth over volume
According to Abrahams, when a brand is seeking to identify counterfeit items, breadth is more important than volume.
“You will find that if you remove infringing items from marketplaces, they’ll pop up on websites and social media,” he warned.
The “whack-a-mole” strategy isn’t always the best, he said.
“Think of this as not being a volume business; it’s much more important to look at the places where genuine consumers shop.”
A term that MarkMonitor has adopted is the “well-intentioned consumer”.
This is the kind of person who wants to spend the correct amount of money on the genuine product.
Abrahams said that brands should focus on protecting the well-intentioned consumer by ensuring that platforms remain free of counterfeit products. After all, 92% of search engine traffic stops at the first page, said Abrahams. The further you search, the more likely you are to find infringing content.
“You really need to focus on the places where your genuine consumers are going to go and think about where you spend your enforcement money,” said Abrahams.
He also advised brands to look on the platforms where their consumers are shopping to see what they are going to find most visible.
Abrahams concluded that the internet has become a very complex space, noting that, even 12 years ago, the internet wasn’t considered such a threat to brands, as business owners used to think customers would want to come into the shop instead.
He said that there are now hundreds of online marketplaces and social media platforms where people can find an outlet for counterfeit merchandise. As a result, the internet has become the hardest place to catch an infringer, according to Abrahams.
“The internet is a complex place to do business and an important place to protect your brands,” he said.
“The best way to get the real return on investment is to focus on the places and platforms where well-intentioned consumers go. If you can remove the [counterfeit] listings where they go, then you’ll be spending your fees and budgets much more effectively than if you go at it with a machine gun.”
Please contact info@newtonmedia.co.uk to request a recording of the webinar
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