Don't copy me on Friday!

Originally the term Black Friday was used in relation to the financial crisis that happened in 1869 in the USA, but retailers did not appreciate the negative connotation associated with the black day. For this reason, they tried to find a new meaning for the Friday after Thanksgiving, known to be one of the most profitable days of the year and call it “black” in relation to the accounting system that used the black colour to signify accounts in profit in the book of entries.

Nowadays, Black Friday means success and a very productive day for retailers and the economy. In order to encourage more people to buy, vendors started to offer big discounts only on this day. The crazy deals, short sale window and impulsive buyers combined to create opportunity for a huge number of infringing products to be bought and sold.

What we are expecting from the 2020 edition is that it will be unlike any other before. Since April 2020, online sales have peaked to high levels never experienced before, due to the worldwide pandemic and the forced lockdown. The digital shift in purchasing is taking an important root on a global scale with many customers saying that they will use e-commerce more in the future.

This boost in e-commerce has led to fraudsters taking advantage of the IP (intellectual property) of rightful business by creating mediocre copies and selling them at a discounted price to make quick profits. Normally, the price is one of the biggest clues to spot a counterfeit when shopping, but during the Black Friday deals this becomes almost impossible due to the high discounts applied.

The increase in the number of counterfeits brings a big impact in term of profit loss and fall in sales, especially in the online world where the lines between real and fake are less clear. For this reason, the imitations are creating good revenues online, by stealing the company’s design and trademarks. Counterfeits have improperly become proper competitors for the brands owners.

The brand reputation is attacked everyday by the distorted user perception who, most of the time, are not aware that the product they have bought is a copy. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing and disappointed customers can blame the authentic company for the lack of quality. Damage in terms of loss of reputation and negative reviews can be substantial.

Not only brand owners, but also partners are harmed by counterfeits that can compromise business partnerships and create unfair competition or break long-term trust deal between distributors and retailers.

With the impact that counterfeits have on consumers, it’s important to make everyone aware of what they are buying on the craziest day of shopping and online purchasing.

Here some suggestions for reviewing the approach of your company:

In the near future, investing time and money in fighting against counterfeits will be the order of the day and of the utmost importance, together with the creation of a solid and lasting strategy for the online brand protection. Customer security must be your driver for strategic monitoring in different marketplaces to ensure brand integrity.

With the online Black Friday sales, high-risk listings will increase exponentially and here at Rightly we are ready to help and support not only on Black Friday but also on all the other colourful days of the year!