Counterfeiting: AAFA rallies against Meta, Shopee
Nicola Mira
The American Apparel & Footwear AssociationAAFAAlibabaLazadaAmazon
Each year, the U.S. federal government compiles a so-called Notorious Markets ListTaobaoTencent
But AAFA no longer wants to see sanctions imposed on foreign groups only. For the third time, the association intends to place Meta (owner of Facebook, InstagramWhatsApptop of the online advertising investment leaderboard‘Reels’ videos to boost social shopping
AAFA has also asked that Shopee be included on the next list, whose publication is expected at the start of 2023. The Singaporean e-commerce site recorded a revenue of €1.73 billion in Q2 2022, and has made the headlines this year by generating more sales outside China than Chinese giant Alibaba. And while Alibaba has decided to use its South-East Asian arm Lazada to try to make inroads into Europe, Shopee has set its sights especially on the US market, where it intends to grab market share from Amazon.
The latter was also mentioned by AAFA, which indicated that it has raised concerns about the range of products available on Amazon in its message to the authorities. The same concerns were expressed with regards to Alibaba Cloud and Lazada. AAFA’s efforts are part of its fight against counterfeiting, notably focused on the dangers caused by fake products. An independent study carried out on AAFA’s behalf and published in March found that of 47 counterfeit products tested, over a third did not meet U.S. safety standards.
