Secure luxuries with tactical packaging

A whole spectrum of evolutions and changes are taking place across the luxury, beauty and apparel market sectors: strong market growth in a number of market segments; strong geographical shifts of demand; explosive growth of counterfeiting of luxury products; and strong technological developments in brand protection and product authentication.

Growth of global counterfeiting across all end user sectors is now accelerating to around 15.6 percent annually between 2013 and 2018 (up from 6.8 percent annually between 2008 and 2013) according to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Best estimates put losses from counterfeiting and piracy (all end user sectors) at approaching 1 trillion USD in 2013.

But brand protection looks set to lose ground against runaway counterfeiting through to 2018 unless the industry wakes up. Brand owners need to be convinced and persuaded, despite the fact that the business case in already powerful and largely self-evident.

The scale and reach of the counterfeiting problem continues to grow dramatically due to two crucial forces:

• China Today the number-one counterfeiter nation in the world, both for exports and for consumption within their own domestic market. Indeed, up to some 85 percent of all counterfeit branded products are thought to originate in China according to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC)

•  The internet– Huge growth of the internet as a tool for buying and selling almost anything worldwide, either by direct website / email contact or via on-line auction houses like eBay. Face to face transactions are not required and the anonymity that can be maintained suits counterfeiters well. Neither may products be inspected prior to delivery.

A curious characteristic in the world of counterfeit luxury and beauty products, unlike many other end user sectors, is that it’s common for consumers to ‘knowingly’ purchase counterfeit branded products.

Since around 2010, there has been a spectacular increase in counterfeit luxury goods worldwide. In response brand owners have been becoming increasingly proactive in developing strategies and solutions.

Brand owner trends

A key characteristic of luxury, beauty and apparel brands is the degree to which brand owners continue to diversify beyond their respective traditional core businesses, crossing over between product categories in order to gain competitive advantage.

Such diversification by the brands potentially offers tremendous opportunities to extend sales of brand protection solutions across a broader product portfolio beyond a brand owner’s traditional core product range. It also helps identify additional brand owners that could benefit from existing solutions and approaches.