A prestigious French perfume house was deeply concerned about the potential damage to their brand reputation due to counterfeit products being sold in the South East Asian markets. They wanted us to conduct an investigation and monitoring mission.
The Problem: The client faced a growing threat: unauthorised sellers across Indonesia and Malaysia were brazenly marketing what appeared to be counterfeit versions of their signature fragrances as genuine.
The client sought to understand the scale of this counterfeiting operation and develop detailed profiles of the sellers involved. The client was very much concerned as their brand reputation was at stake and suspected that it lead to revenue loss too.
Their key questions included:
- How are they selling (online/offline)?
- What is their monthly sales volume?
- Which other brands are they selling?
- Where are they sourcing these perfumes?
- What is the location of their warehouse(s)?
- What is the scale of their overall operations?
- Who are the key players involved?
The Solution: Infogence, which specialises in brand protection and counterfeit monitoring investigations, was hired to conduct an on-field investigation.
Findings:
A Twist in the Tale: The on-field counterfeit monitoring investigation took an unexpected turn. The sellers weren’t peddling counterfeits.
Genuine Product, Unauthorised Channel: Instead, they were selling authentic perfumes, manufactured in France. The bottles, packaging, and even the fragrances were genuine. The problem? These were ‘testers’ – samples meant for in-store trials – being sold through unauthorized channels.
Impact:
A Shift in Perspective: The findings dramatically changed the client’s understanding of the problem. It wasn’t a counterfeit issue, but a diversion of genuine tester products.
Actionable Insights: Infogence provided the client with a detailed understanding of the supply chain vulnerabilities that allowed the testers to be diverted. This included recommendations to tighten distribution controls, implement stricter inventory management, and monitor online marketplaces for unauthorized sales. The client was also advised on legal strategies to address the unauthorized sales channels.
Contact Us to discuss your needs about ant-counterfeit investigations.