American firm launches app to fight counterfeits

BrandMark representative Peter Massawa during a past interview. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By Frankline Akhubula

Summary

• A US firm has launched an application with capacity to scan goods and help consumers differentiate between the counterfeit and original goods before buying.
• The company BrandMark launched the app recently in Kenya. It specialises in creating special stickers for manufacturers to enable them to stop counterfeiting.
• Kenya is the first market in Africa that the company used as the launchpad even as it plans to spread its services in the entire continent within one year from now.

A US firm has launched an application with capacity to scan goods and help consumers differentiate between the counterfeit and original goods before buying.

The company BrandMark launched the app recently in Kenya. It specialises in creating special stickers for manufacturers to enable them to stop counterfeiting.

Kenya is the first market in Africa that the company used as the launchpad even as it plans to spread its services in the entire continent within one year from now. The app will come as a reprieve to local manufacturers that have been battling with counterfeit with limited success for decades.

BrandMark has had uninterrupted in existence in the US market for over 38 years.

By scanning the stickers known as Special Icon (S.I) using a downloaded application buyers are able to receive instant information about the goods scanned.

The firm is already working with country’s anti counterfeit authorities to eliminate faked brands.

Peter Massawa, the country’s brand representative, says the technology will give consumers an advantage over making informed choices about goods before buying them for consumption.

According to Mr Masssawa, manufactures too soon be able to trace goods from manufacturing point to purchasing. In addition, through back end, the same information will be copied and relayed to manufactures, anti-counterfeit agency and Brand mark systems.

The service also provides geo-location of the scanned products. It shows location of the shop where goods have been scanned. The technology will help the anti-counterfeiting agency to respond swiftly whenever fake products are noticed.

For companies to get these special stickers, they will have to make orders from BrandMark that will then ship in the stickers. They will then activate them once their authenticity has been confirmed by the manufacturers who will then stick on the targeted products.

“The most important thing about this service is that customers are not charged to download the application. The scanning is free. We hope governments in Africa will work tirelessly on reduce prices for purchasing smart phones and make them accessible to many [to enable usage of the app],” says Mr Massawa.

Already some local companies ranging from pharmaceuticals, paints alcohol beverages, juice manufacturing companies, gas motor vehicle spare parts companies like Toyota, Nissan, Subaru among others have subscribed to the service with the aim of protecting their products.

The counterfeiting menace has been a hindrance to increasing collection of State revenues. Goods for which no taxes have been paid and which may of questionable quality have penetrated the market giving unfair competition to the genuine ones.

Several studies in the past have indicated that counterfeiting in Africa is more rampant than in other markets where fewer products are faked.

“Products counterfeited range from bottled water, detergents, medicines, alcohol, among others. We have however realised that no individual wants to take chances with use of counterfeited products like medicines, cosmetics and food since such products directly affects the health of individuals,” adds Mr Massawa.

If successful, Mr. Massawa says the initiative will save jobs besides restoring others that have been lost in the past where companies left for other countries over the counterfeiting menace.

Some of the companies that closed down and left for other markets over counterfeiting menace include the American multinational company chocolate producer Cadbury Kenya which left Kenya for Northern Africa, dry cell batteries manufactures EverReady Kenya and Yana car tyres manufactures which closed down in 2016 and moved to India.

Although there have company individual attempts to stop counterfeiting, systems created by these individual companies have not yield much fruit in the past. This is because some of those systems allowed buyers to perform authentication once the goods have been purchased and obtained from the market rather than before the purchase.

For BrandMark, buyers will have a chance to verify goods before buying.

A consumer will make the decision whether to buy or not on the spot upon getting information about the products.

While most counterfeited products are from local market, a study by an international trade organisation (IOC) once indicated that most counterfeited products in Kenya are from India and China.