Digital Authentication of Brands: 5 Reasons Why it is the Future

As designer counterfeiting becomes more profitable, the designer industry itself suffers–and both customers and brands alike bear the consequences.

High-end clientele spend top dollar on what they believe to be an investment piece that they will see a return on when they sell at a later date…only to find out during an appraisal that the item in question is a fake, and they’re out hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.

Design houses that invest in curating a brand, developing quality products, and maintaining a reputation, lose more than 26 billion dollars in sales annually to counterfeit alternatives. They also stand to lose credibility with their customer base. Low-quality counterfeit products that slip through the cracks have a direct impact on the way customers perceive the business.

These are just a few of the reasons large resale platforms like eBay, The RealReal, The Vault, and more take significant measures to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods on their sites. They clearly recognise the massive issues that come with the introduction of counterfeit goods into the marketplace. Specifically, eBay enlists trained professionals to verify luxury items like designer handbags, shoes, and watches as part of their Authenticity Guarantee program.

Why is Digital Authentication Becoming the Industry Favourite?

It’s only a matter of time before luxury brand authentication becomes the industry standard.

As fast as the counterfeit industry grows and innovates sneakier means of producing illegitimate copies, experts are devising ways of identifying fakes and informing would-be victims. There will soon come a time when authentication will be a requirement, not just an option.

Knowing all of this, you can jump on the bandwagon before it takes off and join the growing wave of digital authentication users. Check out these five major reasons to go digital:

Outsourced Expertise & Quality Assurance

Companies often aim for in-house physical authentication, but sometimes underestimate the resources and knowledge needed to build an effective authentication program. When employing a professional third-party, they find that digital authentication is not only adequate, it’s preferable to undertaking the task themselves. It’s better for a few reasons:

• Ease of use and effectiveness when integrating an outsourced digital authentication solution.
• It’s accurate and effective due to established systems that are built with the highest possible accuracy in mind.
• A wide variety of brands are covered, eliminating the need to find multiple authenticators with different areas of expertise.

When integrating solutions like LegitGrails, companies benefit from reduced expenses. Outsourcing authentication helps them conserve resources (A.K.A. time, money, and personnel) that would otherwise be spent on internal training, drafting processes, continued education, and creating entire in-house departments dedicated to the anti-counterfeit battle. The money saved can be reallocated elsewhere, like increasing staff salaries or enhancing Research and Development.

Working with a credible third party authentication company can prevent the need to build entire branches of your existing business from scratch.

If you need further proof that third-party is the way to go, take a look at the model resale giant eBay uses: even with seemingly unlimited resources, eBay still outsources high-end watch authentication to a third party provider.

Third parties like LegitGrails often have more thorough techniques and processes that allow them to accurately verify items, which many retail companies can’t achieve in-house. Companies with more than 5 years of industry experience (like LegitGrails) have accumulated extensive knowledge and experience in verifying luxury brand items. 

With few exceptions, LegitGrails ensures that the items they do verify through complex systems can be checked with more than 99% accuracy. The organisation also provides in-depth training and resources like webinars and authentication courses to its authenticators.

Accuracy Levels Are Higher Than Ever

Digital luxury brand authentication has never been more accurate than it is today, and innovators are constantly improving processes to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.

Our vast international network of experts have varied expertise and connections, ensuring we have the widest brand coverage. Many of our authenticators have backgrounds in quality control and supply chain management for the very brands we seek to authenticate, or have relevant experience as resale owners. They must successfully (and accurately) pass authenticity tests. This enables us to offer our services in many categories of merchandise with different price points, from hype sports brands to high-end luxury brands.

Why trust LegitGrails for digital authentication?

We make your bag authenticity check experience as pleasant as possible without sacrificing quality or accuracy. 

LegitGrails builds robust systems that track key performance indicators (also known as KPIs) of authenticators, including average response times, accuracy rates, and customer satisfaction rates.

Our experts are continuously researching the newest industry trends, including improvements in the quality of counterfeits. Complex authentication tests are run on a biweekly basis, aiming to eliminate potential mistakes and achieve accuracy rate that is comparable to physical methods. Our authenticators always have the most up-to-date information.

Our process has three outcomes: pass, fail, or unable to verify. We don’t offer verification for high-risk items and items outside our scope of expertise on a case-by-case basis (because experts can’t smell or touch items) but digital authentication is still available for most items.

Photos are extremely important to the digital process. LegitGrails provides clear guidelines and brand-specific photo examples to make sure the authentication is as accurate as possible.

What if there’s a mistake?

We have a procedure for everything, including the unlikely event in which a mistake is made during an authentication. We will immediately set out to identify the reason for the error. If our authenticator is found to be at fault, they will be required to undergo retraining before continuing with the company.

In any case, we’re confident in our process. Our intuitive system detects items that can’t accurately be verified through the digital method, so we avoid them instead of potentially making a mistake. Otherwise, for the items that we are able to authenticate, our authenticators see everything they need to in order to be as accurate as if it were an in-person authentication.

Optimised Processes & Cut Costs

Switching to a digital method of authentication can help your luxury resale business save a lot of money. Physical authentication (especially in-house) requires a lot of expenses, including but not limited to:

• Transportation,
• Storage,
• Employee salary and benefits,
• Management,
• Insurance (especially in dealing with high-end luxury items),
• Staff trainings, and
• Human Resources costs for hiring new authenticators.

Time is also a major factor to consider when deciding between physical and digital authentication: with the right photos, a digital verification can take as little as 30 seconds without reducing the accuracy.

Consumers Expectations Are Rising

Today’s consumer has an increased awareness of the production process and a vast majority have adopted an ethical mindset when it comes to shopping, especially where luxury brands are concerned. The upward trend in the interest of sustainability is here to stay. Consumers want to know that the goods they purchase were made without great cost to the environment or to the people who created them, which is why many of them turn to secondhand or used luxury items in the first place.

Counterfeit luxury items are extremely unsustainable. Because the practice is illegal, many of the companies operate under the table and aren’t regulated by an overseeing authority, unlike their legitimate counterparts.

This means that many of them engage in unethical business practices, like inhumane treatment of employees, use of harmful or toxic materials, tax avoidance, and more. 

If a consumer is dropping a small fortune, for example, to get the vintage Chanel handbag of their dreams, a bag authenticity check can spare their wallet and their conscience, as well as spare the reseller the headache of a return and an unsatisfied customer. Digital authentication can mean the difference between directly supporting criminal enterprises or actually buying used, which is considered one of the most sustainable purchasing practices.

It’s More Accessible Than Physical Options

Switching to digital authentication creates a pathway for clients (both businesses and individuals) in underserved areas to get verification on the origin of their luxury brand items. In many ways, it’s also cheaper and less time-consuming than some of the traditional physical options. Going digital further changes the conversation around luxury brand authentication, encouraging customers to see it as an accessible necessity rather than an optional “extra”.

How to Implement Digital Authentication in Your Store, App, or Marketplace 

LegitGrails offers several different methods of partnership to offer digital authentication services to businesses. The LegitGrails Business Portal exists specifically for resale stores, individual resellers, pawn shops and other resale businesses that have a need to track several requests at once. It’s available with a pre-built analytical dashboard and supply chain analysis. Businesses benefit from an automated management system of authentication orders, which come at the lowest prices on the market. LegitGrails also offers API integration for digital C2C marketplaces and other large businesses. 

It’s Time To Get Rid Of Fakes!

Dump counterfeiters for good–switch to digital authentication and make it even harder for them to pass their illegal merchandise off as the real deal. It’s efficient, easy to implement, cost-effective, and can offer you and your clients peace of mind. The best part? Getting started takes only a few minutes. Select an authentication bundle or schedule a consultation to take your luxury resale business to the next level.