Recently, as the number of products sold through the gray market, both online and offline, is increasing, brand damage is becoming more serious by the day. Gray market refers to the form in which a product is distributed and sold to other markets without going through the manufacturer or formal distribution channels.

Products sold in such illegal markets can be significantly cheap compared to original products because they do not go through the formal distribution channels, but consumer blow is inevitable because these products in illegal markets are likely to be abnormal products for reasons of exceeding the expiration date, product degeneration, and being on sale despite its discontinued production.

Additionally, businesses suffer fatal losses as a result of illegal distribution through the gray market. Manufacturers and brands may receive a multifaceted blow from the decline in genuine product sales, brand reliability, and distorted pricing that occurs as a result of lower- than-normal distribution prices.

In response, the genuine product certification solution "Hidden Tag" announced its development of a distribution management service for the purpose of preventing damages by nipping the problem in the bud. Hidden Tag is currently supplying its services to brands and manufacturers.

Hidden Tag`s distribution management service monitors in real-time by using the digital data of labels attached to the products to manage the entire distribution process. Specifically, all individual movement of each product during distribution is recorded in data form and sent to the server, where monitoring takes place.

A Hidden Tag associate states "The service provides an innovative distribution management solution that can track the information of the final distribution stage by including updated information in the distribution management monitoring system when consumers scan hidden tag labels for genuine authentication of a product. If a consumer scan is made in a country that does not officially sell a given product, an illegal distribution warning notification is immediately sent to the monitoring system to allow quick handling of the situation."

The associates adds, "If a consumer scan is picked up in an unauthorized country or on an unauthorized product, a screen pops up that indicates the product has not been processed through the formal distribution channels. Through this screen, consumers can tell if the product has underwent illegal means of distribution, preventing further exposure of illegal products to consumer.”

On the other hand, Hidden Tag is a genuine business product verification solution currently used by more than 1,000 brands in 22 countries, with about 7 million consumers in 200 countries using the Hidden Tag app as a means to verify product authenticity.

Source: Mail Safety Newspaper (https://idsn.co.kr )