introduction/Background
Before proceeding to the discussion of this topic, it is necessary to determine the order, what is fake and what types of products, there are fakes. There are four kinds of falsification of class "luxury" goods:
fake products - replicas of the original products, produced with the aim to give them the originals, thereby deliberately misleading consumers; pirated products - demonstrative cheap copies of original products, the production of which is not hiding the fact of forgery; products-simulation - the goods are not identical to the original product, but like them its content, name, design, appearance or (consumers tend to be aware that these products are not original); products of handicraft production - design replicas of branded products without the brand logo and made by masters who work on the brand or produce similar quality and design of products.
If we carefully get a grasp of these definitions, it is clear that the luxury goods sector have to face all four kinds of copy, though in varying degrees of intensity. So, the first of these types of counterfeit products - one hundred percent fake - is implemented on various markets the people who present themselves as official representatives of luxury brands. These products are sold everywhere, they offer housewives of San Francisco, you can see them on the street stalls in the vicinity of Oxford Street in London full of them on Canal Street in Manhattan, and in various hot spots of Hong Kong,
Totally contrary to enthusiastic claims that fake handbags and other counterfeit goods are indistinguishable from the originals, in fact these knock-off products typically leave a lot to be desired. The real items are usually individually handmade from the best materials using only the most perfect stitching, while fakes are mass produced. In addition, the counterfeit industry is tied to the globalization of organized crime, so the money people spend on forgeries while being pleased at their savings ends up in the pocket of a thief at best, and the mob, terrorists, or drug cartels at worst. In short, even if cultural relativism is taken into consideration, it is difficult to say that counterfeiting actions are in any way going to improve the
This expansion demonstrates how the luxury industry is now run by massive corporations whose focus is only on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and most importantly, PROFITS! With growth and expansion, has come a decrease in quality and rarity. The luxury garments produced are mostly not handmade but are even outsourced to large factories in places such as China and Turkey. Also, to meet quarterly turnover projections, “designers churn(ed) out increasingly trendy collections of clothes, handbags, and shoes.” (Thomas, Pg. 246) With hundreds of new stores around the globe the surplus of designer labeled merchandise is immense hence, the proliferation of outlet malls.
In luxury marketing, there is a delicate relationship between 4 factors that most strongly influence the purchase of the luxury consumer. They are the exclusiveness of the brand, the reputation of the brand, forms of distribution and price/value affiliation. Exclusivity cannot always be ensured due to immense competition. But by consequence, it is not the key requirement of a luxury consumer. The consumer bases their
The author who inspired the topic of this thesis is Dana Thomas. As a fashion writer, Dana Thomas, has analyzed the changes in luxury fashion business. Thomas has been writing about fashion for the past twenty-five years in various journals such as Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Financial Times, and more. Dana Thomas’ two books, Deluxe and Gods and Kings, are the inspiration for this thesis. Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre goes into great detail the secrets of the leading luxury industry brands, namely Prada, Gucci and Burberry, to showcase the “New Luxury” of today and how “luxury lost its luster” by featuring the manufacturing and logistical processes. Thomas exposes that many luxury brands use the same Asian factories that mass-market retailers employ, which raises questions concerning quality and craftsmanship for luxury brands.
Customers will not deny or renounce awareness of, or obligation of, the legibility of an item listed that has been described by that Seller as authentic/original. Sellers doing so will be reported to authorities should Shoprator deem necessary.
Danger signal - The company had been disguising the origins of a product for some time, enabling higher selling prices. (WSEF p.117)
Have you ever paused and discovered that it’s so easy to get lost in the counterfeit? ...or realized that we live in a world where the counterfeit seems more real than the real?
Meaning that overall as a consumer one can never be sure even if a product is label “faux” whether it is or not.
Bear in mind that the saying that buyers beware. It is possible to get fake items, but that is very rare.
E-Commerce sites, such as Amazon and E-bay have helped create millions of such stores online, which is why it’s so hard to check for fakes. One storefront gets shut down and another one opens. Amazon has made it extraordinarily difficult to enforce against counterfeit products.
Most of us have heard or had change to partake in the globalization process wherein replicas of the original, more expensive product is sold for a much cheaper price. Some call them “fakes”, but the term is more formerly known as counterfeit goods.
At the apex of the market was haute couture with it very high-end “custom” product offering that catered to the extremely wealthy. Luxury goods manufacturers believed diffusion brand’s lower profit margins were offset by the opportunity for increased sales volume and the growing size of the accessible luxury market and protected margins on such products by sourcing production to low-wage countries. Eye-catching utilization of their products by prominent figures in society leads to increasing demands for luxury good items and it is a growing industry with the global luxury goods market growing 9% per year. These consumers buy their products for satisfaction and to boost their self-esteem rather than for ease or comfort. All these components blend in the context of a successful business of the luxury goods.
Finally, LVMH must protect its brand against counterfeit and dilution. With the recent expansion of the internet and globalization, availability of products has grown to new heights. In order to keep the brand management that LVMH desires, it must tightly control the availability so not to dilute the market and lower the perception of their brand. Also with the increased knowledge and resources of counterfeiting, LVMH needs to keep a grasp on illegal goods. Not only are the goods becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish real from fake, but the channels of distribution of counterfeit products have increased. Europe customs believe that 75% of counterfeit luxury goods originated in China or Hong Kong. Online stores such as EBay also have seen a large amount
On the other hand, the large market potential has drawn a host of luxury-goods companies to enter the China market, which makes the competition fiercer and fiercer. And it is troublesome for LV that there are plenty of fake goods imitating LV’s style prevailing in China, which are actually not likely to reduce LV’s high-end consumers, but would exert negative influences on consumers’ impression and awareness of LV.
Product is a set of tangible and intangible attribute including packaging, color, price, quality and brand plus the seller 's services and reputation. A product may be a good,