“Stronger protection for K-beauty, online and offline”: MarqVision's counterfeit cosmetics detections up 419% in two years, with solutions built for beauty brands

• MarqVision's counterfeit solutions for protecting beauty brand value in demand, as counterfeit cosmetics detections rise 419% in two years
• Counterfeits a serious problem as K-beauty exports grow: KIPO counts 104,254 blocked beauty listings
• Marq AI and test purchases verify counterfeits precisely, advancing a brand protection process that spans online and offline
• Test purchases buy the actual product to check packaging, scent and texture in detail, raising counterfeit detection accuracy

MarqVision is tackling the counterfeit cosmetics trade, which has grown more serious alongside K-beauty's global rise.

AI company MarqVision (CEO Mark Lee) announced that the number of counterfeit cosmetics detected through its Marq AI solution rose 419% in two years. MarqVision offers integrated beauty brand protection that spans online and offline, combining Marq AI, its generative-AI-based counterfeit detection and enforcement solution, with an offline test purchase service.

Korean cosmetics gain popularity around the world every year, and K-beauty brands are growing more competitive by the day. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's “October 2024 Import and Export Trends,” Korea's cosmetics exports last month rose 36% year over year to $1.037 billion, a new monthly record. Korea Customs Service data shows that in the first half of this year, exports of K-beauty products to the US in particular rose 61% year over year. As this growth stands out, the market for counterfeits is expanding fast too. According to KIPO, about 870,000 counterfeit K-brand listings were detected and blocked on major overseas e-commerce platforms over the past five years, and beauty products were the second-largest category at 104,254, after character goods and household goods.

Marq AI, MarqVision's generative-AI-based solution, protects the intellectual property (IP) of Korean beauty companies and brands by monitoring counterfeit cosmetics on more than 1,500 global marketplaces in real time. It standardizes and automates the complex, repetitive detection and enforcement work people once did by hand, making the response faster and more efficient. Many brands, including Anua, Beauty of Joseon and Biodance, use the solution today. This year, Marq AI has detected 1,099,531 beauty products, up about 419% in two years from 211,963 in 2022 (and 997,121 in 2023).

Because it is hard to tell whether a beauty product is counterfeit from the information on an online product page alone, MarqVision also offers a test purchase service that buys suspected counterfeit cosmetics and verifies them in detail. For suspicious products detected through Marq AI that need closer verification, MarqVision agrees a test purchase with the brand and checks not only the packaging but the applicator, scent and texture.

The test purchase service draws on MarqVision's local offices in the US, China and Europe, so it can easily buy products even in Southeast Asia and the US, where counterfeit beauty products mostly circulate, without running into country-specific purchasing restrictions or shipping issues.

Because cosmetics can threaten consumers' health and safety, they call for especially careful management, and MarqVision's test purchase service is in demand as a tailored solution for beauty brands determined to protect their customers. Test purchases of suspected products confirm counterfeits with more than 90% accuracy.

MarqVision also keeps working to cut off counterfeits at the source. In particular, it works closely with China's Ministry of Public Security through its local office in China to take effective action against offline warehouses stocked with high-risk sellers' counterfeits. Demand for offline enforcement is high among companies, especially in China and Southeast Asia, where many counterfeit factories operate.

“As the K-beauty market expands globally, Marq AI is drawing attention as the best solution for protecting brand value from the counterfeits and malicious sellers that hold back Korean beauty brands, and inquiries about the service keep growing,” said Mark Lee, CEO of MarqVision. “MarqVision's integrated online and offline solution can take action against individual products and also map and shut down the distribution networks of organized high-risk sellers, so brands can protect their IP by tackling counterfeits at a more fundamental level.”