Following the recent launch by the IPO (in conjunction with the ACG) of the #choosesafenotfake campaign, highlighting the dangers of fake beauty, skincare and perfume products, we decided to take a look at the landscape of counterfeit beauty products in a new e-book, with a specific focus on standalone e-commerce websites.

For perfumes and cosmetics, we found that websites offering the sale of potentially counterfeit products targeting top brands are easily identifiable through quick and simple searches. Many of these websites incorporate ‘red-flag’ indicators of non-legitimacy, including low price point and the use of high-risk domain-name extensions. Some also include features such as ‘Trusted Site’ icons which appear to have been used without authorisation.  

The findings illustrate the likely scale of the counterfeit problem, and highlight the importance of brand protection programmes to identify and take down infringing sites.

You can download the ebook here.