30-40% of counterfeit goods are sold through marketplaces: what this means for brands

According to Stanislav Bogdanov, Chairman of the Association of Omnichannel Retail Companies (AKORT), up to 30–40% of counterfeit products in Russia today are sold through marketplaces. About half of all fakes are still sold at markets and flea markets, while the rest are distributed through social networks and small shops. Among the most counterfeited categories are auto parts, sportswear and footwear, cosmetics, household chemicals, alcohol, tobacco products, laptops, and smartphones.

For rightsholders, this is an important signal: marketplaces have definitively become one of the primary risk zones for brands.

Furthermore, the speed at which new sellers emerge creates additional difficulties for brands. For instance, even if a disputed product listing is removed, it can quickly reappear under a different name, a new account, or with a modified description. This is precisely why the fight against counterfeiting on marketplaces has become fundamentally different from traditional offline protection.

Which brands are in the high-risk zone

The news from AKORT is particularly revealing because the list of the most counterfeited goods includes categories with high brand recognition and stable demand. Companies typically at risk are those whose products are actively sold on marketplaces and have high demand and recognition, including due to a strong trademark. It is important to understand that the problem affects not only large international companies. As soon as a brand becomes noticeable on the market, the risk of illegal trademark use begins to grow.

What this means for rightsholders

Many companies learn about the problem too late – when negative reviews appear, price dumping begins, and/or sales of original products decline. By this point, the violation may have already existed for months.

The issue is that counterfeit goods on a marketplace are rarely limited to a single product listing. More often, it is a systemic problem: first, one seller appears, then several similar listings, followed by new accounts and the copying of the brand's visual identity. As a result, the rightsholder begins to lose not only sales but also control over how consumers perceive their product.

Most companies still use a manual approach to solve the problem: their employees periodically check Wildberries or Ozon, look for suspicious product listings, and submit complaints. However, as the business grows, this model stops working because the situation on marketplaces is too dynamic: disputed listings are quickly edited, sellers change descriptions and accounts, and "deleted products" quickly return to the market. This is why rightsholders are increasingly moving from one-off checks to continuous monitoring of violations.

What is changing in the approach to brand protection

Interestingly, AKORT itself identifies product traceability throughout the entire supply chain - from the manufacturer to the end consumer - as one of the key measures. According to association representatives, it is strict supplier vetting and verification of trademark rights that help large-scale retailers weed out counterfeits before they go on sale.

For marketplaces, this model is currently more challenging: the speed at which sellers appear and the scale of the platforms create a constant stream of potential violations. Therefore, it is becoming critically important for brands not only to react to already discovered counterfeit goods but also to proactively build a protection system.

Typically, it includes three elements: monitoring violations, handling complaints, and the legal documentation of cases. This specific approach is gradually becoming the standard for brands that are actively sold online.

Why the issue is no longer just a legal one

In the past, fighting counterfeiting was seen as a task for the legal department. Today, it is a matter of commercial efficiency. Counterfeits directly impact profits: they lower the average price, damage reputation, create a negative customer experience, and dilute brand value. Consequently, brand protection on marketplaces is gradually evolving from a "reaction to a problem" into a full-fledged business process.

For instance, ZIPDetect helps rights holders not only identify potential violations but also systematically manage complaints and legal support - especially when counterfeiting occurs regularly.

Conclusion

The 30-40% figure is more than just a statistic from industry news. For brands, it is an indicator of how significantly the counterfeit market has changed.

Marketplaces have long become one of the primary channels for distributing fakes, which means trademark protection can no longer be based solely on periodic checks and reactive complaints.

The sooner a business establishes systematic monitoring and a process for addressing violations, the higher the chance of preserving not only sales but also the value of the brand itself.