Study Reveals Expected Spike in Counterfeits This Holiday Shopping Season

New research details Black Friday and holiday shopping trends and sentiment around counterfeits

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, brand intelligence leader, Red Points, released a national study, which reveals U.S. shoppers’ sentiment around holiday shopping this year. The study, conducted in September, outlines how imperative it is for brands to approach Black Friday and the 2020 holiday shopping season with heightened awareness of illegitimate sellers infiltrating trusted e-commerce channels and threats of counterfeits—as these risks are substantially higher for online shopping, as compared to brick-and-mortar retail.

This Black Friday will be unlike any other and will almost certainly set precedence for how retailers approach Black Friday, holiday sales events and doorbuster deals well beyond the pandemic. Amid a global health crisis, shoppers have reasons to avoid jam-packed stores and crowds—but still expect to snag deeply discounted merchandise. With the expected domination of online shopping this holiday, retailers must take all precautions necessary to safeguard their brand reputation throughout Q4.

“At a time when businesses are looking to recoup recent losses, ensuring brand protection will be essential to protecting retailers’ bottom line this holiday shopping season,” said Daniel Shapiro, VP of strategic partnerships and brand relationships. “Many shoppers are feeling financial strain induced by the pandemic. As a result, consumers will be more budget conscious this year, making it more likely they’ll turn to counterfeiters—which can be devastating for brands.”

Red Points’ following findings illustrate how online shopping continues to grow significantly and what this means for brands going forth.

• 65 percent of shoppers are likely to spend more online for Black Friday this year than the previous year.
• Shoppers are planning to spend an average of $289 online on Black Friday this year.
• 70 percent are planning on shopping at online marketplaces (i.e., Amazon and eBay).
• 28 percent say price is the most important factor in making online purchase decisions.
• 57 percent of shoppers are looking to buy clothes and accessories, 25 percent tech and electronics and 22 percent toys and games.

Counterfeiters and infringers pose a monetary and reputational threat to brands and ecommerce platforms. Although counterfeits are not the fault of the brand, people are less likely to give brands a second chance after purchasing a counterfeit product, as indicated by these survey results:

• 26 percent of respondents have purchased counterfeits on Black Friday.
• Only 20 percent of respondents said they would use a counterfeit product after finding out it was fake.
• More than half of respondents claimed they would ask for a refund.
• Almost half of respondents who have bought fakes would write cautionary reviews about where they purchased it from.
• 25 percent of respondents think removing counterfeits should be done by the brand.
• More than 40 percent of respondents would complain to the original brand.

“Piracy and counterfeiting affected our company in a number of ways, but the most obvious one was consumer confusion,” said Evan Feldstein, vice general manager and general counsel of beauty-tech brand FOREO. “Thanks to Red Points, we managed to restore our customers’ trust by taking down 22,000 listings while removing over $2.5 million worth of counterfeits.”

Red Points’ Black Friday survey will be featured in a webinar hosted by VP of Strategic Partnerships and Brand Relationships Daniel Shapiro on Tuesday, October 27 at 12 pm ET. To register for the webinar, please visit https://meet.redpoints.com/lp-336-webinar-black-friday/

For more insights, you can see the full study here: https://meet.redpoints.com/lp-290-black-friday-2020/

About Red Points

Red Points is the world’s first brand intelligence platform. By combining some online brand protection, copyright enforcement, and distributor monitoring capabilities, Red Points provides companies full visibility into brands’ presence online. Over 700 brands rely on Red Points to fight fakes, piracy and distribution abuse online, allowing them to maintain control, improve their brand value and increase revenues. With offices in New York, Barcelona, Beijing and Salt Lake City, Red Points has transformed an industry traditionally led by intellectual property lawyers and service-focused companies into a scalable, cost-effective technology solution. For more information on Red Points and its solutions, visit www.redpoints.com

About Foreo

Swedish beauty-tech brand FOREO offers a new standard of beauty and wellness solutions, from the award-winning facial cleansing brushes in its LUNA line, inventing a whole new way to mask courtesy of UFO, to reinventing the toothbrush with ISSA. This approach is bold: the brand doesn’t just improve existing designs. FOREO tears them down and restarts from the ground up, ensuring the best solutions are not reserved for the wealthy few. FOREO promotes self-confidence: when you feel good, you look good, mission complete! For more information on Foreo, visit https://www.foreo.com/