In recent years, the unauthorised distribution of products in the Japanese market and the proliferation of counterfeit products globally have become serious issues. These threats can damage brand trust and lead to significant market losses. To mitigate these risks and foster a society where everyone can confidently purchase authentic products, we offer our Digital Traceability Service.
A traceability service that visualises product diversion and unauthorised resale
By using unique identification codes printed with special stealth ink invisible to the naked eye, we can track when and where each product was produced. This enables the prevention of unauthorised distribution and helps identify offenders.
Issues caused by product diversion and unauthorised resale
Countermeasures against unauthorised distribution using invisible identification codes
Unique identification codes are issued for each manufacturing period and distributor, and printed with stealth ink on product labels, making them invisible to the naked eye. When products suspected of unauthorised resale are identified on platforms such as E-commerce sites, the codes can be read using a specialised scanner. By cross-referencing the scanned data with the shipment records, we can determine when and through which distribution channel the product was manufactured. This allows us to trace the sales route and issue warnings to the responsible parties.
Core technology: Invisible 2D barcode for individual identification
Unique identification codes are rendered invisible using stealth ink. As these codes are not visible to the naked eye, it is difficult for unauthorised parties to detect and counteract them.
Solution overview
Benefits of this service
When products diverted and sold on E-commerce sites are discovered, scanning them allows for the identification of the distribution route and enables warnings to be issued to the responsible parties.
Authentication service for counterfeit measures
Reducing the risk of counterfeit damage through authentication using tags and smartphones.
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Digital Traceability Service――Introducing the advanced
Issues caused by the occurrence of counterfeit products
- Increased number of inquiries about counterfeit products, especially from overseas
- Incurred costs associated with overseas shipping, ingredient investigation and analysis when inquiries arise
- Incurred human resource costs associated with customer support
- Increasingly sophisticated counterfeit manufacturing techniques and concealment methods
- Increased percentage of brand damage risk the longer it takes to respond
Benefits of this service
In addition to post-incident responses, our service offers proactive measures to combat counterfeit damage. Implementing these preventive measures helps mitigate risks and reduce response costs after an incident occurs.
Endless counterfeit damage
The trade volume of counterfeit and pirated goods continues to expand globally. Recent surveys indicate that over 15,000 Japanese companies have reported being ‘victims of counterfeiting’. Moreover, many affected companies have stated that the counterfeit products are ‘indistinguishable from genuine products’, highlighting the increasing sophistication of counterfeiting techniques.
Actual state of counterfeit damage
Features of the Digital Traceability Service
Addressing counterfeit damage with tag technology and smartphones tailored to specific uses
Addressing counterfeit damage with tag technology and smartphones tailored to specific uses
The Digital Traceability Service utilises various tag technologies and smartphones to perform authenticity verification and capture timestamps and location information. In addition to traditional barcodes and QR codes, our service offers the latest ‘invisible and highly variable’ tag technologies. We provide the optimal method for authenticity verification tailored to meet our customers’ needs.
List of available tags
Features of invisible tags
1.High difficulty in counterfeiting
Invisible tags are extremely small, measuring 0.05 to 0.1 mm, making them undetectable to the naked eye and very difficult to locate.
Additionally, the simultaneous verification of tag information and background images makes counterfeiting highly challenging.
2.High variability
Invisible tags can be applied in various ways, such as mixing them with liquids, which means they do not affect the design. For example, tags can be mixed into the ink used for printing logos on products, enabling the product itself to have authentication capabilities.
3.Easy and fast
Using a smartphone app, quick authentication can be performed at the location where the counterfeit is detected.
4.Easy to implement
There are various attachment methods available, allowing for implementation without changing the manufacturing process.
Examples of usable areas
- Pharmaceuticals/health supplements
- Daily necessities
- Films/packaging
- Wine bottles
- Food products
Solution overview
Using a smartphone app, authenticity can be easily and quickly verified.
By holding the smartphone over the tag attached to the product, the app reads the information from the tag and determines authenticity. It also captures information such as location and timestamps, which can be used not only for authenticity verification but also for identifying the origin of counterfeit products.
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