UPDATE 15 JUNE 2020 – In the videos below, our Brand Protection experts share how their teams are responding to the challenges posed by COVID-19:

UPDATE 30 APRIL 2020 – On April 29th, we hosted a webinar titled ‘COVID-19: How brand protection strategies must adapt to protect consumers & business value‘ that explored the impact of the pandemic on consumer buying behaviors and, critically, how businesses can adapt their Brand Protection strategies to be more resilient.

View the recording and access the presentation here

UPDATE 3 APRIL 2020 – We have released a COVID-19 Brand Protection action plan that outlines how businesses can continue to protect their consumers and brands online in these unparalleled times. We set out 6 key steps businesses can take in response to the surge in e-commerce demand and shifting consumer behavior, ensuring that their consumers are shielded from illegitimate products and online scams.

Access the guide here

UPDATE 18 MARCH 2020 – As we’ve outlined below, bad actors are increasing counterfeit activity to try to take advantage of consumer demand further switching from brick and mortar retail to digital channels.  In response to this, we have implemented a plan to support our customers through this challenging time by temporarily shifting resources from other departments to assist our analyst teams, so that they can focus on maximising their enforcement activity.  This is to ensure your brand and your consumers remain protected.  These supplementary team members will be helping with analysis of data, compilation of reports, and additional supporting activities. 

At this difficult time, it’s even more important that we deliver on our shared mission – to make the internet better for businesses and their consumers.  In that spirit, these changes will be made with no cost to you and continue until this crisis subsides.

MONDAY 16 MARCH 2020 – I am writing with an update on Incopro’s response to the escalating COVID-19 situation.   

Following earlier preparation, on Friday last week, we confirmed to all staff in all office locations that they had the option to work from home.  This will change to a requirement to work from home where advised by Government (as has just been announced in the UK).  As always, our focus remains on the health and wellbeing of our staff. 

As many of you know, Incopro has an office in Shanghai and our business has been addressing the COVID-19 situation for some time, working hard to ensure that our customers face no disruption to the service we provide.   

Challenges like these reveal the best or the worst in people.  We have seen our team in China show incredible resilience in the face of a major lockdown that required our Shanghai office to close and our team work from home for an extended period.  We have also seen bad actors try to take advantage of this vulnerable time to scale up their counterfeit activity and prey on consumers.  With additional pressures on global supply chains, we are seeing counterfeiters exploit the situation.  Opportunistic sellers are bulk-buying health-related products in physical stores and selling them online at a high mark-up.  Counterfeiters are attempting to capitalize on the spike in demand by flooding online marketplaces with their unregulated and infringing products. 

In the last week, our Talisman platform identified clusters of infringers setting up multiple social and web-based channels to sell facial masks, sanitizers, and gloves to exploit the virus, making dubious claims about the origin and anti-viral efficacy of their items.  We are also seeing increased infringement across unrelated sectors as consumer demand further switches from brick and mortar retail to digital channels.  

At Incopro, we’re responding to this rapidly changing landscape by redoubling our focus on our mission – to work with you to make the Internet better for your business and your consumers. In the spirit of that common mission, we are devising plans to proactively support your analyst team with additional resources drawn from the company. Staff from around the business will be supporting our analysts – enabling them to spend maximum time enforcing on your behalf.  We will share more details of these plans with you on an ongoing basis through this dedicated webpage: 
https://www-staging.incoproip.com/news/covid-19-update/

Meanwhile, if you have specific questions about our response or how we are protecting your brand during this period, please reach out to me or Annie Wood (Global Director Brand Success).

Now more than ever, we remain vigilant for threats to your consumers and are steadfastly focussed on protecting your brand.  I extend my best wishes to you and your family at this difficult time. 

Yours sincerely, 

Simon Baggs
CEO at Incopro