powered by OpSec Security
There are few markets that generate such dedication and passion as sports, especially thinking about football. The desire to have the latest replica football club shirt, or team branded merchandise appears relentless, and the allegiance of the sports fan to their favourite club or brand is often manifested in the purchase of branded merchandise, from apparel and accessories, to drinkware, car accessories, collectibles, home and office, kitchen, and even pet accessories. Where there is such heightened demand for products, counterfeiters becomes soon a pressing problem. Moreover the global e-commerce boom has created a ‘perfect storm’ for counterfeiters to operate within, providing a global market place whilst at the same time offering a cloak of anonymity. Therefor the risk of counterfeit products is not going to easily disappear.
A report by the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry states that typically, the organising country of the World Football Championship sees a 500% increase in the import of counterfeit goods. Generally across Europe, football shirts are sold in staggering numbers. In the 2015-2016 season, for example, Manchester United sold 2.85 million shirts. The top ten clubs by highest shirts sales accounted for almost 14.5 million replica shirts. When the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) is often £50 or more per shirt, the attraction for counterfeiters is obvious. For this reason, many of the world’s biggest football clubs have decide to set up strategies to contrast this phenomenon. To find the best tools for their needs many have appointed OpSec to help protect, authenticate and enhance their sports-related products and licensed merchandise.
OpSec has over 30 years of experience as market-leader in optical security, providing OVD (Optically Variable Device) technology to many high-secure projects including banknote and national ID programs. This same level of technology is used by OpSec’s design and origination team to create uncompromised security labels for the sports industry that when combined with Unique ID’s codes and the OpSec InSight™ platform, transform into a complete track solution that deliver critical supply chain intelligence and allow to engage directly with consumers. OpSec also helps the world’s top sports and performance brands providing custom trims and packaging that add value and ensures brand integrity enhancing product’s aesthetic, and incorporating additional security features such as QR codes, sequential numbering, reflective inks and security yarns and UV inks in: woven, embroidered or laser die-cut badges, hangtags, swing tickets, zip pulls and labels.
OpSec’s Supply Chain Management solutions deter the counterfeiting, diversion, and fraud introduced by the modern supply chain. Globalisation and growth in emerging markets represent the opportunity for new revenue. However, a lack of transparency in the supply chain creates risk to those who rely on contracted manufacturing and distribution networks to reach these new opportunities. OpSec’s proprietary track and trace platforms offers unrivalled product tracking which provides sports brand owners with visibility into their manufacturing and supply operations.
Track InSight™ enables brand owners to mark products or apply product packaging labels bearing Unique Identifiers (UIDs) to separate legitimate product from counterfeit goods.
Trace InSight™ allows clients to solicit and report on product and distribution information throughout the product’s lifecycle.
Consumer InSight™ makes it possible to leverage your security labels and hangtags as a marketing tool to drive sales of genuine product, build consumer loyalty, and increase your revenue. It provides the opportunity to interact with consumers at point of sale or post-purchase and engage them in new ways.
The InSight™API provides real-time access to the breadth and power of OpSec’s Supply Chain Management data and services. Using the API, is also possible to integrate Insight services and data in websites, mobile apps, or third-party tools to create a custom user experience backed by the protection of OpSec’s solutions.
As we already highlighted, the explosion of e-commerce has given counterfeiters an easy ride when it comes to distributing fake football merchandise. OpSec’s Online InSight™ platform provides continuous monitoring of product sales activity across the internet, analysing data, conducting test purchases and enforcing the law and sales policies.
OpSec’s Trademark InSight™ also offers a complete product management solution for licensing, which allows brand owners to:
– Create, manage, and distribute contracts and license agreements
– Provide third-parties with a single repository for all trademarks and IP
– Digitise the design approvals process to reduce approval lead-times and save on costs
– Report sales by product category, sales by distribution channel and analyse approval rates
Compliance with contracts and trademarks are integral to securing your revenue and key in distinguishing authentic product from counterfeit goods. OpSec’s product management solutions, provide design, production, and distribution partners with the tools to facilitate compliance and communication.
By developing an integrated approach which combines leading optical, material and digital security, sports brand owners can ensure their products can be authenticated quickly and effectively by all stakeholders and ensure they have full visibility of the legal supply chain. Brands who involve their consumers in protection programs often see large rewards. By enabling consumers to self-authenticate products, brands escalate the strength of their protection significantly whilst also gathering key marketing intelligence.