Amazon increases efforts to tackle counterfeit goods

Online retail giant Amazon is expanding its product serialization service to Canada, India and some European countries to tackle counterfeit products in the supply chain.

Amazon Transparency involves the application of unique codes to products to allow the retailer, its customers, brands and other members of the supply chain to authentic every unit of a product.

“Counterfeiting is an industry-wide concern – both online and offline. We find the most effective solutions to prevent counterfeit are based on partnerships that combine Amazon’s technology innovation with the sophisticated knowledge and capabilities of brands,” said Dharmesh Mehta, vice president, Amazon Customer Trust and Partner Support.

“We created Transparency to provide brands with a simple, scalable solution that empowers brands and Amazon to authenticate products within the supply chain, stopping counterfeit before it reaches a customer.”

With Transparency, each brand puts the codes on its products, which is then scanned and verified by Amazon to ensure its authenticity.

Customers can also use a mobile app to check for themselves, regardless of where they purchased the units.

Brands also use Transparency to communicate unique unit-level information, including manufacturing date, manufacturing place or other product information such as ingredients.

Over 4,000 brands are using the service in the US and Amazon said that it has proactively prevented over 250,000 counterfeits reaching customers.