Gary Vincent, business development manager for Bristol Novelty, shares his opinion on the growing presence of fake and counterfeit product in the party market.
The Ripple Effect
“The UK party industry is a tight-knit community and when retailers knowingly source counterfeit goods for increased financial gain a ripple effect is felt by everyone in the trade. Genuine sellers face pressure to lower their prices to remain competitive and consumers drive volume purchasing trends which counterfeiters are continuously able to fill. This results in loss of legitimate business and irrevocable damage to brand integrity. ”
Bargain Hunters
“I thoroughly believe that the general public want to purchase genuine products and that they see the difference in price purely as a bargain. This is often down to the way illicit products are shown online; using listings which steal copyrighted images from legitimate sellers.”
Zero Tolerance
“It is the job of experts within the party industry to remove temptation by closing down counterfeiting operations and raising awareness about the challenges we are facing. We have a zero tolerance approach and are operating a number of anti-counterfeiting strategies to combat issues of counterfeiting or trademark misuse.
Working Together
“There are a large number of enforcement methods available and, working in collaboration with other partners, we will work to detect and eradicate counterfeit products from our industry.”
