The US apparel industry urges Meta, and Shopee be added to the counterfeit list. What does this mean for brands?

The US apparel industry urges Meta, and Shopee be added to the counterfeit list. What does this mean for brands?

Online social commerce is growing rapidly in the US. With more consumers shopping on personal sites such as Facebook Marketplace. The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) is concerned that apparel and footwear brands are suffering from the destructive amount of counterfeit products being produced and sold and urges the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to add Meta and Shopee to the Notorious Market list.

Why brands should be aware of this:

Facebook Marketplace is a personal site, therefore brands are legally limited to the Personal Information (PII) they can collect and track on individuals selling their alleged products making it harder to monitor and police nefarious behavior, including counterfeiting. The law favors the protection of personal information over the interest of brands, which is why apparel and footwear brands are now spending millions of dollars trying to pinpoint and police the marketplace misbehavior to ultimately protect their brand and consumers.

Benefit to brands:

If Meta and Shopee are added to the Notorious Market list, they will be under more scrutiny from the government to increase their own self-policing efforts. Facebook has been leading efforts to police its site, however without additional requirements from the governments, airs in protecting the privacy of individuals selling on their site before the brand. If Meta and Shopee are added, the trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy engaged on the site will be highlighted to warn consumers. That in conjunction with increased efforts to stop fraudulent activity, Meta and Shopee included on the counterfeit list will be beneficial to both consumers and brands.

Recommendations and how POTOO can help:

We currently help some of the biggest apparel and footwear brands identify, monitor and police marketplace misbehavior including copyright piracy, fake websites, counterfeiting and more. Investing in brand protection is more important now than ever before. Our experienced team of marketplace and brand protection professionals will deliver actionable analytics with concierge service, giving your company the power to take back control of your brand in the online marketplace, while identifying unauthorized sellers, monitoring their behavior and working to stop nefarious activity at the source.

To learn more about how POTOO can help protect your brand and consumers from marketplace disruption, message us on LinkedIn or contact us at info@potoosolutions.com.