UK consumers have more trust in Amazon compared to other marketplaces despite Amazon admitting they have a problem with counterfeits. 42% of UK consumers said they would be likely to research products listed on Amazon before purchasing them compared to 54% of consumers who would run background research on items listed on eBay. Incopro, brand protection software provider found through research that there is equal distrust in online marketplaces.
Percentage of consumers who would run background research:
- Amazon – 42%
- Groupon – 46%
- Etsy – 48%
- Alibaba – 51%
- Gumtree – 52%
- Wish – 53%
- eBay – 54%
The findings show that even though consumers are keen to do background research across all online marketplaces, they are more likely to make purchases on Amazon without any research, trusting that the products or services they are buying are legit. Amazon have admitted that they have an issue with counterfeits and the report highlights a lack of knowledge on the issue of fakes from consumers showing 45% would only buy from trusted marketplaces which include Amazon and eBay to help reduce the number of counterfeits they purchased.
“One of the pitfalls of a deceptive marketplace (in which fake goods are abundant) is the erosion of trust that occurs between a brand and its customers when people unintentionally buy a fake product. Cited as one of the most important ingredients for the development and maintenance of happy, well-functioning relationships, trust also plays a key role in the long-term satisfaction and loyalty of customers.”
-Nathalie Nahai, Web Psychologist, author & speaker on consumer buying habits
Counterfeits on Amazon
There are some complicated issues with counterfeits on Amazon that make solving it important for both consumers and merchants. One issue comes from the fact Amazon combine stock from different sellers under single listings. If consumers receive counterfeits from one seller and leave bad reviews under the listing, genuine sellers will be losing customers who believe they will receive counterfeits.
“We also may be unable to prevent sellers in our stores or through other stores from selling unlawful, counterfeit, pirated, or stolen goods, selling goods in an unlawful or unethical manner, violating the proprietary rights of others, or otherwise violating our policies.”
– Amazon
3 Responses
The simple solution for amazon if they are concerned about product reviews damaging the genuine brands etc . All they need to do is make it clear thast the reviwe needs to have the sellers name included in it. If not Amazon should be able to manually add it later to avoid all genuine sellers being affected.
regards
Mark
You can’t say you haven’t been warned, eBay.
Lower trust, lower sales, lower fees (excluding stealth fees).
You cannot keep hiding your head in the sand!
I doth my cap to Nathalie Nahai, Web psychologist (whatever that is), with her quote:
“…when people unintentionally buy a fake product.”
she realises that a lot of the time, people do want fake products. gasp.
if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be this degree of fake product on the market.
the difference is knowing you’re buying fake, or expecting real and getting fake.
eBay is great for buying fakes, if that’s what you want, it’s also absolutely dreadful for buying fakes when you don’t want.
and there are different types of “fakes” – I’m all for a grey market with slightly iffy goods from slightly iffy origins, if you know what you’re buying then fair enough. if you want to walk around wearing an ‘Armoni’ suit then by all means do so.
batteries and digital storage (usb sticks, memory cards) are rampant with fake fakes, it’s sickening. all advertised as genuine, all nothing of the sort. ebay know all about it, who sells the fakes, and continues to host them gladly, they have zero interest in tackling it. the few people with the savvy to know they’ve been ripped off in time get a refund, the other 95% don’t, and end up just shopping elsewhere next time.
– if i buy a memory card or battery from any trustworthy store, the though of checking them upon opening barely crosses my mind. if i buy them off ebay it’s the first thing i do as soon as i open them.
there’s fakes that hurt the brand, and there’s fakes that hurt the consumer, ebay only cares about the former.