It has never been so easy to purchase goods with the simple click of a mouse – however, the rise of fast fashion means there’s a growing trend of online boutiques selling cheap items for higher prices.
One element of this issue, known as ‘white labelling’ refers to the practice of one business buying a product from a different company and rebranding it as their own.
Newstalk reporter Josh Crosbie told The Hard Shoulder that some influencers have also used this tactic.
“It’s been going on for years, but the main difference now is that we have, of course, social media,” he said.
“With that, the explosion of content creators [and] influencers setting up their own brands, their own online boutiques.
“Now consumers are starting to highlight that some potential customers can be under the illusion that their favourite influencer is more involved with their product than they might let on.”
Internet influencer. Image: Passakorn Prothien / Alamy. 8 February 2020For original product creators, this can cause issues when their design is stolen and mass produced as a cheap knockoff.
Founder of Chupi Jewellery Chupi Sweetman told Josh that she tries not to take it personally when she runs into these issues.
“I never have an ego about it, we’ve been copied by everyone at this stage,” she said.
“We did a beautiful claddagh ring last year in collaboration with Nicola Coughlan, and that ring was up on one of the big global Chinese platforms within about two weeks.
“I always think it’s actually a huge compliment when someone copies you because what they can’t copy the ethos of a business, they can’t copy a ‘why’.”
Ms Sweetman recommended customers to “always start your shopping with a sense of scepticism”.
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While some customers won’t care if their purchase is the real deal or not, there are sites that have made an effort to disguise themselves as authentic Irish craft retailers.
Director of communications with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) Gráinne Griffin said it is especially important that online products are labelled correctly.
“When you’re a consumer shopping, the trader always, in some ways, has more power or more control over the messaging that you can see about the product,” she said.
“But that’s particularly the case when you shop online because obviously, if you go into a bricks and mortar store, you can pick up the product, you can look at it, you can make your own assessment on the quality.
“But when you buy online, you’re totally reliant on how it is described and how it’s put to you.”
The CCPC told Josh that they had recently issued 25 influencers with compliance letters over the inappropriate way they had been promoting a product.
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Main image: A young woman makes an online payment for a purchase.
