Fakes selling online a bane for brands

Online and offline retailers have sparred over fake or unauthorised goods for some time now. Brands have even dragged online retailers to court over excessive discounts and fake goods. Most e-commerce companies are marketplaces that allow third party vendors to sell their wares. For brands, the online market is a bit of a Catch-22 situation. They know the risks, yet, with the growing popularity of e-commerce, they cannot afford to stay offline for too long.

In India, French clothing brand Lacoste sells only through its own website and through a chain of 50-odd stores. So a Lacoste bought anywhere else can be probably considered a fake or unauthorized. Lacoste came to India in 1993. Earlier this year, American headphone maker Skullcandy took Paytm to court for allegedly selling counterfeits. Similarly, in 2015, eyewear brand Ray-Ban got a court injunction to stop online marketplace Shopclues from selling fakes.

Amazon India takes the issue of fake and counterfeit products being sold on its marketplace very seriously. It works with sellers to bring such counterfeit products down from the website. In case of repeat offenders it does not hesitate to take strict action and may even go to the extent of delisting them from the marketplace.