Online luxury buyers can finally breathe easy. A new website promises to ensure that buyers of luxury goods are not ripped off by fraudulent websites. According to statistics, fraud luxury brand websites attract a whopping 120 million visits each year. It certainly helps that many of these sites appear prominently on search engine results. They often look chic and authentic enough to make buyers believe that these websites are the real thing. Such websites have got the better of many luxury consumers many a time. An estimated £82 billion is spent on fake sites each year.
Brand-i was formed to limit the presence of counterfeit luxury brands websites and to make the customer more aware during his (or her) online shopping expeditions. The Brand-i website describes itself as “Quite simply a shopping directory that only lists webstores selling genuine products”. So whether you are shopping for apparel or accessories, movies or music, Brand-i offers a platform on which you can sift through all the authentic websites, without falling prey to the counterfeit ones.
Brand-i may be an independent website, but it is supported by the Trading Standards Institute. Andy Forster, director of the Trading Standards Institute, said that Brand-i helps customers sift through the flood of fake online stores that show up on networking sites and on search engine results. Apart from fighting online crime, the new website empowers customers to recognize fraudulent shopping sites.
According to founder Jenny Dalton, the website helps reassure shoppers that they are not buying counterfeit luxury products. Chanel, Pandora and Ted Baker are among the high-end brands that are already associated with this website.
Via: Mirror.co.uk
