Amazon extends access to anti-counterfeit solution

Amazon is making a key tool in its fight against counterfeit products more readily usable by brands selling on its platform.

The e-tail giant is making Amazon Transparency, its product serialization solution designed to prevent counterfeits from being sold on its site, interoperable with brands’ own product serialization systems. Interoperability will enable brands that already have their own product serialization on their products or packaging to have access to Transparency’s protections without requiring any changes to their existing manufacturing and packaging processes.

Amazon launched Transparency in 2016, based a code that is unique to every individual product unit manufactured by a brand. Until now, in order to enroll in Transparency, these codes were represented as unique 2D Data Matrix barcodes that brands applied to the product or packaging of every unit they manufactured.

When a product enrolled in Transparency is listed for sale in Amazon’s store, it allows the e-tailer to verify that the code is authentic before a product is shipped, helping ensure only genuine products are delivered to customers.

Over time, Amazon has added capabilities for brands using Transparency, including the ability to track specific batches or lots to trace supply chain issues and functionality to provide customers with additional information post-purchase to help drive deeper engagement.

According to Amazon, it now has more than 33,000 brands using Transparency, and it has verified more than 900 million product units across the supply chain. Brands will share the serial numbers for the products they wish to enroll in Transparency, and whenever a unit of that product is sold through Amazon’s store, Amazon will validate the serial number to verify the authenticity of the product, the same as the company does with the codes it has been issuing on its own.

[Read more: Amazon launches industry effort to stop online counterfeiting]

“We are proud of the progress and innovations that we have continued to deliver to better protect customers and brands from counterfeits,” said Dharmesh Mehta, VP, worldwide partner selling services, Amazon, in a corporate blog post. “Interoperability for Amazon Transparency is another big step forward for how we will do that. We look forward to continuing to build on the strong foundation of partnership with brands to eliminate counterfeits worldwide.”

Amazon began piloting Transparency’s new interoperability features with a small number of brands, including Belkin, Logitech, and Samsung, and is now opening availability to brands that offer their products in Amazon’s stores in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.