F&F

F&F is a Korean fashion company that operates brands such as MLB, MLB Kids, and Discovery Expedition. It has recently expanded its global presence by introducing new brands like Duvetica, Supra, and Sergio Tacchini.

F&F has followed a proactive application of digital transformation in all stages of business operations, from planning to production and sales. This shift of focus towards online channels has greatly increased F&F's sales, particularly as it facilitates direct-to-consumer selling.

However, F&F's growth, increased popularity among consumers in China and Southeast Asia, and rapidly expanding online presence have made the Korean brand a huge target for counterfeiters.

The e-commerce market in Korea has been growing rapidly, and the sale of counterfeit luxury brands on online marketplaces has been skyrocketing. Online sales channels worldwide saw a huge boost since the start of Covid-19, which has facilitated the sale of counterfeit products even further. These counterfeits jeopardized F&F’s future growth and international expansion by leaching off their growing brand recognition and customer trust and taking sales from the brand.

To successfully trick consumers, particularly those in APAC countries such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore, counterfeiters created online merchant profiles that skillfully identify themselves as official F&F retailers. They used F&F’s brand name and logos, their official images, and even F&F’s sizing charts for clothes.

These actions can put a brand’s reputation and consumer trust at risk. When counterfeiters pass themselves off as the authentic brand to make sales, there are always consumers who don’t realize they’ve bought fake products. Receiving shoddy products and then receiving no customer care leads many customers to place the blame on the legitimate brand.

As the initial strategy of combating fakes, F&F utilized its in-house workforce to manually check products with high prices exclusively on Naver Shopping, an online Korean sales platform, to identify fake and gray market products. They would consequently perform test purchases to check whether the products were genuine or fake. In the case of counterfeit products, they sent proof of content to the seller and reported copyright infringement on the platform.

Since all of these tasks had to be done manually, it was nearly impossible to identify all the products sold on various marketplaces at home and abroad. When the real volume of fake F&F products online was discovered, and the brand realized how slowly the manual method takes down fakes, the Korean K-fashion brand contacted MarqVision for a sustainable and effective solution.

By adopting MarqVision, F&F can now monitor major marketplaces effectively across key regions in Asia to build a systematic IP protection strategy. The data made available on the intuitive dashboard allows F&F to target the most prolific counterfeit sellers, while also giving them the control to avoid reporting legitimate sellers. Additionally, MarqVision’s Seller Intel helps to connect the anonymous profiles of online channels across different platforms, allowing F&F to more quickly identify and report major sellers as they reappear in the future.

By protecting its brand value and preventing consumer harm, F&F will be able to focus on delivering optimized product experiences, strengthening its brand competitiveness, and upholding the trust of its customers. F&F can now continue to expand globally without the risk of counterfeiters draining its sales and damaging its reputation.