While Chinese online major Alibaba is actively fighting against fake products, its American rival Amazon is not doing such a good job, said Nick Hayek, group CEO, Swatch.
“If I look what Alibaba is doing and all these they are trying to make a service to the consumer and to earn money,” Hayek told CNBC in an interview. “And they are fighting actively against fakes. This Amazon is not doing.”
The Swatch CEO admitted that Amazon was delivering added value for consumers, but its Chinese counterpart was doing better.
According to him, Amazon, however, refuses to enter into discussions about fake products, referring to its “10,000 lawyers,” who suggest that the company “should not enter into anything that should force us to fight against fakes.”
Amazon, however, denied the charges. “We quickly investigate reports of suspected infringement and we hold bad actors accountable,” said a company spokesperson. “Our efforts are even more effective when brands work collaboratively with us, which happens every day.”
According to the spokesperson, the success of ‘Brand Registry’ proves this. “Brands in Brand Registry, on average, report 99 per cent fewer suspected infringements compared with before the launch of Brand Registry, and Amazon took action on 95 per cent of all notices of potential infringement received from Brand Registry within eight hours.”
Amazon would “welcome the opportunity to work with Swatch and enroll the brand in Brand Registry so we can continue to provide our customers with a trusted experience,” added the Amazon spokesperson.