Op-ed: The five consumer groups buying fake brands in China—and what to do about them

Associate Professor in Marketing Lars Bergkvist at the University of Nottingham in Ningbo and Li Wanzhen at the EDHEC Business School explain why knockoff goods remain a resilient draw for so many of China’s consumers. Fake brands are still ubiquitous in China, on sale in well-known places such as the Silk Market in Beijing and the “fake market” on West Nanjing road in Shanghai. In the streets touts try to lure punters into “secret” shops, and there are countless online outlets offering shoppers “replica” products. Fake brands cost the makers of luxury and other branded products billions of dollars every year in lost sales and, more importantly, in eroded brand equity as those who are knocked-off become less attractive to consumers.