Over the past 5-6 years, the popularity of online trading in Russia has been growing. Despite the fact that the sellers offer the best price on the market, the quality of the goods leaves much to be desired.
Due to the fact that parallel imports were allowed in Russia, the market for fakes has grown under the conditions of sanctions. Surprisingly, according to the results of a survey by lenta.ru (information portal), the number of those who knowingly purchased a fake is 46%, this is every second consumer.
Most often, unscrupulous sellers offer fake clothes and shoes on marketplaces (54% of respondents answered this way), less often, but still there is a fake jewelry (8%).
As it turned out, most of the respondents find it difficult to independently distinguish counterfeit from the original. Only 30% of survey participants believe that it would be easy for them to identify fake clothes, 21% could easily distinguish original household chemicals from a fake, 18% - real food products, 17% - cosmetics, 14% - perfume (according to lenta.ru).
Chart 1. Survey of consumers for independent identification of counterfeit products by product categories
The INFOLine agency stated that in 2022, online trading exceeded its performance due to marketplaces (almost 40%). Analysts argue that the growth is associated with counterfeit trade, amid restrictions on supplies to Russia. It should be emphasized that marketplaces shift the responsibility for goods to sellers, who are not always held accountable for quality assurance and service. The second reason why people began to treat fakes loyally is the decrease in the purchasing power of the population. According to Rosstat, the drop in real disposable income for 2023 has been decreasing for 3 quarters in a row (it amounted to 1% at the end of the year).
Check the goods upon receipt, check whether it is legal by scanning the marking code through the Honest Sign app. Do not forget that marketplaces provide an opportunity to leave a review on the product after each purchase, so that the consumer can get more reliable information. We urge consumers to be vigilant with counterfeit, if you have been deceived, be sure that the law is on your side.
We also recommend buying goods from trusted sellers, requesting a quality certificate for the goods, and before making a purchase - check the list of official distributors on the manufacturer's website.
We would like to note that in our company, online protection is handled by the digital department. Progressive specialists regularly collect and analyze information from open sources on the Internet: websites, social networks, online trading platforms, etc. All this is done in order to search for counterfeit goods and fight them.
We hope for your help/feedback, since we can achieve a reduction in the growth of counterfeit goods only by joint efforts.
If you have any questions, please contact us.