India has one of the largest consumer markets for alcohol in the world. With easier access to international brands and increased spending capacity- consumption patterns have changed, thus paving the way to a flourishing alcohol sector. While the boom comes as a blessing, it also becomes an open market for prowling counterfeit scavengers.
In recent times, there has been a rampant increase in deaths from consuming illicit alcohol. Fake alcohol made by the addition of methanol, chemicals, dyes calls for hazardous aftermaths. It is easy to get iffy bottles of international brands from local wine shops at a steal. As for a seasoned perpetrator masking, the real is no big deal. This is the reason why most Indian brands do not find a shelf in European markets. Liquor purchases at the Duty-Free also run the risk of being counterfeit. These bothersome acts only harrow brand images and lead to distrust.
Companies are doing their best to filter the market to curb if not eradicate the spread of illicit products. Brands are making the best use of technology at their disposal to capture this theft at the lowest level. Brands make use of both Overt and Covert features- the majority of these features can apply to one or many bottles in an attempt to track it down to the hand of the consumer.
Overt features are explicit and intend to offer authentication, to end consumers. Such features are prominently visible on packaging. More than 60 per cent of anti-counterfeit crusaders, make use of overt features. RFID, Holograms, Barcodes, and Tamperproof packaging are some of the digital real-time tools, adopted by companies.
Scratch labels are a simple and cost-effective way to pronounce a bottle as genuine. Using this cost-effective approach, Sproxil Brand Protection Solutions Pvt Ltd, enables companies, police these malpractices. With the use of Sproxil’s award-winning technology, brands can locate and track an illicit bottle/product, right to the point of sale- harnessed through mediums like SMS, voice, web and mobile applications. The power to access these mediums is solely in the hands of a consumer. Hence, it becomes necessary to gratify this noble act by rewarding vigilant consumers. Sproxil offers instant gratification technology, making it a one roof solution for anti-counterfeit needs. Many reputed companies have adopted this technology and have thus, developed long-standing associations with Sproxil, in the process.
The growth of the counterfeiting market is directly proportional to the growth of the industry. The counterfeit market in India resulted in a revenue loss of a whopping 878 million dollars, according to a report by the FICCI. Per annum, counterfeiting across sectors has recorded losses of 14.85 billion dollars, ASPA President’s statement to PTI. If implemented, and monitored properly, anti-counterfeiting can restrict fakes, thus boosting sales. Using these approaches allows companies to leverage the use of anti-counterfeit technology for effect recall management as well. A recent FICCI report states that counterfeiting is the second-largest source of criminal activities, globally. One such company that is fighting and educating about illegal use of medicinal drugs and educating user about them and helping reduce counterfeiting as a global problem, which cannot be handled or resolved by one company but is a collective effort of best practices, standards, initiatives on the part of an organization.