Ray-Ban converts India website into ecommerce platform to curb fakes

NEW DELHI: Ray-Ban has converted its India website into an ecommerce platform, as the eyewear brand seeks to fight off counterfeits that flood online marketplaces. Previously, the website functioned only as a reference point. Ray-Ban is the latest among a host of global firms including Puma and Adidas that launched their own ecommerce platforms in India, at a time when online retailing is growing at a fast clip in the country.

Since November, India allows global single brand retailers — companies that sell items under one label — to offer their products through company-owned ecommerce portals.Ray-Ban appointed Bengaluru-based firm Ace Turtle to manage its online platform. Ace Turtle also manages ecommerce websites for fashion and lifestyle brands of Puma, Flying Machine and French Connection, as well as furniture seller Evok, among others.

Ray-Ban has been hit badly because of the proliferation of fake products on online platforms. Last year, Luxottica Group, the parent organisation of Ray-Ban, dragged ShopClues.com to the Delhi High Court, accusing the ecommerce site of hosting counterfeit products and misleading customers by offering heavy discounts.

Then in January, Luxottica filed cases against a host of online retailers including CraftsVilla and Sytlemyway for allegedly marketing fake Ray-Ban products, according to the Delhi High Court webstie. Luxottica last month received court injunction to stop a local firm from allegedly copying Oakley eyewear products that are worn and endorsed by cricketers Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh.

“Luxottica is fully committed against counterfeiting, and this is demonstrated by the implementation of numerous activities: from the constant monitoring of the main counterfeit product suppliers to the partnership with local law enforcement and custom operations to seize the products, and ultimately the activation of legal actions against perpetrators,” said Akash Goyle, country manager for Luxottica India.