Original versus fake, at what cost

Anyone who has had an experience with a counterfeit or fake product can vouch for the fact that they are invariably cheaper than originals. That may explain why up to ten percent of global trade is made up of pirated or counterfeit products worth US$1.65 trillion1, and is expected to double in three years.

The Indian share alone accounts for a whopping US$16.84 billion2.A report in 2010 said that fake chips, routers, and computers cost the electronics industry up to $100 billion annually. As many as one in ten IT products sold may actually be counterfeit, pointed out American Gear Manufacturers Association. Counterfeits are a big nuisance in the world of trade – it is estimated that 92% of Fortune 500 companies are affected by counterfeits.

Yet ask anyone with personal or professional experience with counterfeit products and the response invariably is the same: they don’t perform nearly as well as their original counterparts. The counterfeit market impacts all customers irrespective of product or industry including drugs, auto parts, lifestyle goods, books, software and office supplies.

For personal use, counterfeit products can be risky and life threatening (example: fake drugs), or plain annoying (a fake auto component breaking down). The risk of counterfeits, however, is clearly more pronounced when it comes to business; a fake part or product can break down at a critical point in a negotiation, reduce staff productivity, or in a few cases, hurt your business reputation with your customers.

Printing supplies are a prime example – counterfeit toner or ink cartridges often trick a customer into believing that they are buying a genuine, original product, which in reality, is a low quality fake. The print quality is extremely poor, the cartridge can break down after printing a few pages, and the printer can suffer permanent damage thanks to the spurious quality of the fake cartridge. Add to this the hidden costs of wasted paper and the poor customer impression of your low-quality printouts, and your counterfeit purchases become a real worry for your business.

How do businesses protect their business from fakes? There are many steps and ways possible to ensure what you are buying is an original product, and not a counterfeit:

• Avoid purchasing products from unreliable online or auction sites or from vendors who are located away from your business location.
• Keep an eye on products that are advertised as "discontinued" or "second quality."
• Be cautious of suspiciously low prices of any product; huge discounts often imply that the product for sale is a counterfeit.
• Look at the packaging closely. Be extremely cautious of resealed boxes and excessive glue and taping which may hint that it is a fake.
• Many products that face a high counterfeit threat use specially designed packaging with a security label. If a product has a security label, examine it carefully. For example, many high value products feature advanced security labels with holographic background images, which are difficult for counterfeit manufacturers to replicate. It’s an easy way to authenticate an original product.
• Product manufacturers are constantly upping the ante on security technologies to protect their customers and help them identify originals. For example, HP offers a Mobile Authentication tool for its ink and toner cartridges that make it easy to authenticate an original cartridge, using a smartphone and a special QR code printed directly on the cartridge packaging.

Above all else, choosing to deal with one or two reliable and trustworthy vendors will assure you peace of mind when it comes to originals. And this applies to all products where counterfeits can be a threat.