The spout: how an investment of just a few cents can save millions

Trademark counterfeiting: fakes that cost both companies and consumers

You can ask any consumer and they’ll probably won’t believe you. “Did you know there are fake detergents? Did you know those detergents people buy on special offer 4 for the price of 3, are sometimes fake products?”
The consumer might say, “but how can that be when it’s got A***; D***, etc. written on the box? The packaging looks the same! But thinking about it, this time the washing didn’t smell as good as usual…”

Unfortunately, these aren’t “limited” cases and it’s certainly not a joke. The counterfeiting of major trademarks is a well-rooted phenomenon.

From detergents to food, there are “professionals” who re-create the packaging used by major brands to make packets filled with products that are sub-standard to say the least. This parallel "market” can mean some nasty surprises in terms of the profit margins of companies and the purchases made by consumers, who lose faith in products they’ve been buying for years.

You can see a product is fake: it’s in the (missing) details!

How to avoid receiving complaints from unhappy customers who’ve lost faith in your product?
How to avoid becoming one of those companies that every year comes near to making a loss with fake products amounting to 5-10%?

Often, when shopping for products in small shops or minimarkets it’s easy to see that on a box of a well-known brand of washing powder there’s one small but essential detail missing: the spout!

Once again, a dosing spout makes the difference. Clever counterfeiters aren’t that clever after all, because to copy such a small thing, that’s complex to design, and with a precise function, is absolutely beyond the skill-set of those who do this “job”.

A spout really makes the difference and has become a mark of quality, a sign that a product is “genuine” leaving no room for doubt. With a very reasonable investment in production a washing powder manufacturer, and companies producing other things, can easily make their product immediately recognisable, something consumers appreciate and look out for, so there will be no doubt in their mind they’re buying the real thing, instead of something that looks “similar”.

As they say, “beware of imitations!”