THE world is experiencing a major revolution in international trade where markets no longer have boundaries.
While some businesses perceive this development in the positive, it has come with its own challenges.
Where some of the world’s international brands and products have found it much easy to penetrate new international markets, there are those organisations that will merely wait for the markets to be established by these world’s acclaimed brands, before they venture into the same markets with counterfeit products.
The counterfeiters use a strategy similar to that of the hyena whose characteristic is that of surviving on the exploits of others.
Due to its laziness and craftiness the hyena will never work hard to survive on its own but thrives on the abuse of the hard work of predators such as lions and leopards.
To do this, the hyena usually follows these predators and closely monitors their hunting expeditions.
Once the lions have caught their prey, the hyenas will simply disturb the feasting by doing
anything possible until the lions become irritated and leave the meal for them.
This behaviour typifies the conduct and approach counterfeiters apply to gain market entry and position themselves.
Counterfeiters have become increasingly advanced and good at what they do, such that it is
now difficult to distinguish imitations or gong’as from genuine or original products.
Recent statistics have reviewed that about 70 per cent of the world’s consumer products are counterfeits and imitations.
The widely known remark that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” is being widely abused here.
This state of affairs is a big problem for marketers and marketing organisations in several ways and is indeed a source of many marketers’ lack of sleep.
Imagine after several years of market research, huge costs that are usually associated with new product-development, brand-development, sales-promotions and advertising, all only to end up facilitating markets for imitations.
The sad part about imitations or counterfeit products is that they assume the form, appearance, features and names of some of the world’s strongest brands, thereby making them just as marketable as the original products or brands.
About five months ago one of my closest uncles, who is based in the Eastern Province was in Lusaka on a working assignment and informed me of his presence in town.
I did not hesitate to get to the hotel where he was accommodated. After spending some time there, I decided to call it a day and as I was being escorted to my vehicle we were approached by two young men who, apparently, were selling mobile phones.
They immediately produced new handsets from boxes as they solicited for business.
My uncle expressed interest as he had been contemplating buying a handset for my aunt.
“These are genuine phones boss!” they said while presenting them to us. My uncle got the phone and began to scrutinise it saying: “Are you sure this is genuine product?”
Having thoroughly looked at the phone, he was convinced that it could be genuine.
One month later, my uncle called lamenting that he had just discovered that the phone he bought was nothing but a good counterfeit.
Incidentally, upon purchasing the handset he found time to verify with a local dealer of the brand in question who confirmed the product was an imitation.
The problem has been worsened by the emergence of industries mostly in manufacturing, which have no legal right to use some of the world’s renowned brands.
Zambia, like any other developing third world country, has over the recent years become a dumping ground for counterfeit products.
Counterfeit products range from clothing, electrical appliances, mobile phones, computers, computer appliances and even food products.
Recently, Zambian consumers fail victim to counterfeit infant powdered milk products which had flooded most of the Zambian retail shops.
It had to take the efforts of the government’s joint taskforce comprising different law enforcement agencies to correct the situation
Counterfeit products and brands are proving to be a big problem for marketing organisations in that they do not only dent the reputation or credibility of genuine products, but are equally a competition in disguise.
Remember that most Zambian consumers are cost and price conscious, a situation that leaves them vulnerable to counterfeit brands which are normally relatively cheap and lowly priced.
How can marketers overcome this ever-increasing problem?
The answer to this problem is in acknowledging the fact that counterfeit products or brands will always be a challenge to completely eradicate.
For marketing companies the one effective strategy involves identifying the counterfeiters and legitimising them to carry your brand name as licensed manufacturers, allowing them to use your brand name as registered dealers.
For this to work well, the owners of the trade marks should ensure that their quality standards are completely adhered to.
Most of all, however, it is important to ensure that you patent your trademarks, names, colours and anything that makes your brand.
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