Visual-AI experts, VISUA, advise counterfeit caution this Christmas

New York and Dublin-based logo and object detection company VISUA urges consumers to beware when purchasing branded goods online

VISUA, a leading Visual-AI company is advising consumers to be extra careful about purchasing what appears to be heavily discounted designer products online. The warning comes ahead of Cyber Monday, which takes place on December 2nd. Millions of consumers in the US are expected to purchase branded goods as presents for loved ones on the day, with sales expected to surpass last years $7.9 billion in the US.

VISUA offers solutions to help with brand protection through monitoring visual content. LVISUA’s advanced technology enables companies to separate genuine products from fakes that appear on popular shopping sites such as ebay and Amazon. New research from VISUA reveals that out of the 35.5 million possible counterfeit-related images and videos scanned from listings each month, at least 1-5% are suspected to be fake goods. That represents millions of fake products removed from these marketplaces every day.

According to the most recent OECD report, international trade in counterfeit and pirated products accounts for approximately 3.3% of overall world trade. The top three industries most affected by counterfeit products are footwear, clothing and leather goods. It also revealed clothing and footwear as the second leading item of consumer’s holiday wish list this season, with Michael Kors, Gucci or Louis Vuitton and mass-market brands such as Nike, Levi’s and Adidas among the most counterfeited brands in the world.

With online retail powering the increase in sales of fake goods worldwide, VISUA are cautioning consumers about purchasing from the black market, however tempting it may seem. The company says there is a high chance that consumer expectationswhen buying goods online, might differ from the reality of their products once delivered. With the United States being one of the most counterfeit-affected countries in the world, VISUA is offering brands the ability to finally take control of the issue.

Research from Statista reveals 64% of consumers will do their holiday shopping online this year. As a result, the threat of counterfeit goods to world-recognized brands is increasingly high. VISUA is able to identify suspicious listings online based on a combination of different factors such as products carrying specific marks or missing marks and modified logos, identified via VISUA’s Visual-AI and listings that have an unusually low price or where the brand is not mentioned in the listing title.

Speaking about the level of counterfeit goods on the market ahead of Cyber Monday, VISUA’s Co-founder and CEO, Luca Boschin commented:

“The fight against counterfeit goods has been steadily and significantly growing year on year. With the global trade in fake goods worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year according to OECD, we especially see this issue come to the forefront during the holiday season, when consumers are spending more and more online. But, our Visual-AI technology finally delivers an effective solution that can protect consumers from this illicit trade and empower brands to take control of this massive problem in the marketplace for minimal costs.”

Commenting on what actions consumers can take to help avoid purchasing goods from the black market, VISUA Marketing Director, Franco De Bonis said:

“This year we expect thousands of consumers to be duped into purchasing fake designer goods for loved ones at a heavily discounted price, particularly on Cyber Monday. The reality of counterfeit goods very often doesn’t match the expectation and can even be downright dangerous! Counterfeit goods are also not only costing brands and retailers lost revenue, but also means fewer jobs available across the whole genuine supply chain. That’s why one of VISUA’s stated goals is to partner with counterfeit detection platforms, specialist providers, marketplaces and brands to make counterfeit sales as insignificant in the next few years as spam email is today.”

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About VISUA
VISUA develops best-in-class Visual-AI that powers the world’s leading brand protection, authentication and monitoring platforms VISUA delivers solutions ranging from logo/mark detection and counterfeit product detection to holographic authentication and ad detection. Its Visual-AI technology is proven to deliver the highest precision with instant learning, at unlimited scale, and is adaptable for any use case. VISUA believes in People-First AI, they see a world where Visual-AI will lift humanity out of the mundane, empowering a society that focuses more on creativity and collaboration and less on binary tasks, and empowering services and solutions that humans alone simply can’t deliver.