HP Assesses the Global Impact of Counterfeiting

The Recycler reports that an HP study reveals 10% of global trade is composed of “counterfeit, pirate and grey-market products.” It was found by HP that, due to counterfeiting, the global economic and social impact is approximately $775 billion and will jump to $1.7 trillion by 2015 while the global printing and imaging technologies industry incurs an annual loss of $3 billion.

Speaking of the impact of counterfeiting, Ms. Nosipho Simelane, Printing Category Manager at HP SA, noted that products with inferior quality can cause breakdowns for which the blame is frequently placed on purchasing or IT departments. Moreover, such products also damage a brand’s reputation and produce negative effects on consumer confidence. In order to avoid this false disparagement, Ms. Simelane reports, HP has incorporated anti-counterfeiting measures into the machines. They apply complicated packaging and security labels as well as QR codes to verify the product’s authenticity by scanning.

Simelane pointed out that, the problem of counterfeiting has grown with the advancement of technology which have remarkably reduced the cost and difficulty of counterfeiting.  Therefore, it’s becoming harder to distinguish between the counterfeit and the genuine. On the consumer’s part, she suggested customers be made aware of the real cost of buying counterfeit products.