As counterfeiting continues to become more commonplace and more sophisticated in the UK, businesses need to do more to ensure that their brands are better protected, it has been warned.
In recent days, a new report entitled Global Business Survey 2018 – Brand Protection Challenges, has found that more than half (58 per cent) of businesses believe that the task of keeping a brand safe will become more difficult over the next five years due to ever-evolving technology.
The study, which was carried out by market research company Virtuous in collaboration with MarkMonitor, also found that a similar number of businesses (47 per cent) felt that their brand had already lost sales revenue as a direct result of either counterfeiting, piracy or both.
33 per cent of all businesses that reported counterfeiting-related losses said that they had lost 10 per cent or more of their typical sales revenue, while a further 38 per cent said that they were anticipating further losses over the coming years.
Meanwhile, 41 per cent of brands said that they felt brand infringement was becoming increasingly commonplace, while 58 per cent said that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality would pose new risks to their business in terms of brand protection going forward.
In an article for retailsector.co.uk, one of the study’s authors commented that brand protection was sure to “grow in complexity” over the next five years and that it was important that organisations “adapt their approaches accordingly.”
“Critically, it’s about maintaining customer trust and protecting consumers from the dangers posed by counterfeiters and criminals,” they said.