For those splashing the cash on high-end, luxury goods, authenticity is an understandable concern. Now, luxury brands including Louis Vuitton1, Cartier2 and Prada3 are joining forces to offer a blockchain solution to their customers looking for extra reassurance before purchasing.
Blockchain technology is a digital way to certify a transaction. Its adoption by the three brands will enable consumers to know whether a product is counterfeit or not by providing an encrypted certificate of guarantee to prove it is a genuine product.
The move comes as luxury brands are losing billions of dollars of revenue to counterfeits. The global trade in counterfeits – from luxury goods to consumer products and pharmaceuticals – is forecast to reach US$991 billion by 2022, almost double the level of 20134.
Cartier has already experimented with blockchain for its online product returns. Customers can take a photo of the product they’re returning and upload it on the blockchain to prove that its condition hasn’t been altered between the moment they’ve received it at home and the moment they’ve shipped it back to the brand. “It’s something simple but it means the trust between the two parties is enhanced,” Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron said5.
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