South Korea beauty fake purchase survey: shoot certification video as long as 150 yuan

release time：September，03，2019

Under the background of the temptation of interest and the competition in the Korean cosmetics industry, a chain covering the period from fraud to sale was born.
The strong consumer demand for Korean cosmetics products has made it difficult for many merchants to seduce. After purchasing some fakes, they will be sold as genuine products. The entire fake purchase will form a closed-loop industrial chain.
In the context of the temptation of interest and the competition in the Korean cosmetics industry, a chain covering the period from fraud to sale was born.
For many consumers, purchasing a cosmetic product from South Korea is a "normal" thing, but few consumers know that these seemingly "real" Korean cosmetics products are even attached to South Korea. The circle of friends and the logistics documents shipped from Korea are likely to be fakes.
Recently, the reporter walked into the Korean cosmetics purchasing industry. After field research and multi-party interviews, it was found that due to the strong consumer demand for cosmetic products, many merchants could not resist the temptation to buy some fakes and then act as genuine sales. A closed-loop industrial chain.
Purchasing tide
One day in June, the tourism industry was still in the off-season, but the duty-free goods collection office at Jeju Island Airport in South Korea was crowded with people. Only a chain of people who were tax-free in Silla reached nearly 80 people. The reporter learned that some people bought it. The number of goods is obviously more than that of ordinary tourists, and in order to meet the airline's hand luggage standards, after receiving the goods, it is still arranged in the surrounding area, and the scene is very spectacular.
In the exchanges with the staff of Jeju Island Airport and duty-free shops, the reporter learned that this day is “still a relatively small number of people”, and in the peak season when people are crowded, sometimes even the numbering machine will be scrapped, and eventually has to be maintained by labor. The order of the scene.
The reporter compiled the financial reports of the two major cosmetics brands, Amore Pacific and LG Life and Health, and found that from 2010, under the background of the slowdown in global cosmetics brand sales, the sales of the two brands in South Korea increased by nearly 20%. Among them, the increase in duty-free channels accounted for up to 78.9% of the total increase. Since Korean cosmetics products and brands are widely welcomed by Chinese consumers, the main products of Korean purchasing are cosmetics. Products, not luxury goods and clothing.
For Ms. Zhang, a white-collar worker, it is not easy to find a “reliable” overseas purchase.
"We are afraid that we will buy fake goods, but because of the price advantage, we will still choose to purchase. We can only judge the true and false through the information transmission between consumers and the location and receipt of friends," Ms. Zhang said.
According to the calculation of an economic research institute in Korea, there are about 20,000 to 30,000 people engaged in the Korean merchandise purchasing industry. Among them, there are so-called “purchasing” of selling goods, and many of them are engaged in logistics, packaging and other related industries. This batch of "purchasing" is mainly after 90s and 95s. Most of them have experience in studying, working or living in Korea, and they have experienced explosive growth after the explosive development of Korea's duty-free industry from 2007 to 2008.
The reporter found some purchasing advertisements in the circle of friends who had experienced Korean study abroad, and some Chinese students studying in Korea also confirmed to reporters that many friends would actually pay for living expenses through purchasing.

a "bleached" fake

Zhang Li (pseudonym) is studying at a university in South Korea. She has been engaged in purchasing since 2016 and has become a well-known Korean purchaser in her circle of friends. She told reporters that she would insist on going to Korean cosmetics stores and duty-free shops to buy real goods, but she also received some "temptations" from people who provide informal sources.
“The stranger suddenly added me WeChat and said that it can provide the supply of Korean cosmetics. Because of the wholesale and rebate cooperation, it is 30%~35% lower than the purchase price in the market. After the price comparison, I found some Korean brand products. The purchase price is nearly 40% lower. I am very surprised, especially the large Korean brands are very strict with the dealer management system. Even if they are familiar with the owner of the store or the VIP of the duty-free shop, there will be no lower than the original price. Discount discount. So the goods should have problems." Zhang Li said.
Zhang Li later did not choose to cooperate with this so-called "magic", but she revealed that under the background of intensive competition and price wars in the Korean purchasing industry, some purchases will not be able to resist the temptation of such profits, and choose to cooperate with them. The goods of these agents are really fake but difficult to protect.
Li Xinxin (pseudonym), who is studying in Korea, revealed that some of the informal goods originated from so-called “agents”, and the agent opened a physical store in an apartment in Seoul, South Korea. Most of the counterfeit cosmetics she sells are so-called small samples. At present, domestic consumers have a certain interest in small samples and small packaged cosmetics, but because these products are mainly based on gifts, it is difficult to be discovered by consumers and produced. The party is also not concerned about the authenticity of these products.
In the process of contact with the agent, the reporter found that many samples were being sold. The price of the goods was much lower than that of the same capacity.
“Many counterfeit shops will ship counterfeit cosmetics made in Guangdong and other places to South Korea for re-packaging and ‘bleaching’ at the source, and then re-send them from South Korea to Chinese consumers,” an industry source said.
"fake" business
With "goods", the buyer must also increase the sense of trust, so "false certification" appears.
Zhang Li revealed that in the purchasing industry, it is common for a person to hire a friend circle to locate a video, or provide an invoice for a Korean duty-free shop in a Korean store. This so-called "certification" has become an industry. Chains, and even some students studying abroad to shoot this video as a sideline. The reporter saw from a circle of friends of Korean students that the price of a certified video to a duty-free shop was 1 hour and 150 yuan, of which the toll was calculated separately, and if there were special requirements such as the name of the store, additional fees were required.
In the exchange with some purchasing, the reporter learned that many of the so-called overseas shopping scenes are fake, it is possible to set up a studio to shoot in a certain place, so that consumers believe that purchasing is purchased overseas.
The reporter learned from the exchanges with Li Xinxin and others that in the sales process of Korean cosmetic products, because the chain is “one ring and one ring”, the purchase is not particularly familiar with the source of the goods, and the sales model that does not understand each other is very Difficult to trace the source and control of the source of goods, "there is a fake in the real, there is a true in the fake" has become a common phenomenon in the Korean purchasing industry.
In addition, some duty-free shops in South Korea will attract some Chinese tourists, and will take some preferential treatments and “rebate points” to the operators. This will lead to a number of shopping stores that serve Chinese tourists. Many Chinese tour group guests will be connected to the local area. Guides receive this type of store consumption. The characteristics of this type of shop are that there are many so-called "explosive models" or well-known Korean cosmetics, which are relatively inexpensive, but some careful Chinese tourists will find that some of these stores look "cottage".
The reporter learned that such stores are used to sell some discount products, but today such stores will also serve as the logistics industry, and some stores have become "transfer stations" for counterfeit cosmetics. In the Dongdaemun area where Seoul's purchasing logistics is relatively dense, the reporter found that there are many companies with “China Logistics”, and many logistics companies claim to “provide package clearance”, which is said to be available by domestic logistics companies such as EMS, but compared to normal mailing. The price is 1~1.5 times more expensive, and the aging time is extended from 3~5 days to about 2 weeks.
According to industry sources, the purchaser will sell the goods online, and then go to the “collection point” to act as an intermediary to collect and transport, forming a complex gray industrial chain. The “collection point” is mainly responsible for collecting fake goods and transporting them out, and creating false routing information. Many “collection points” have long been engaged in cross-border e-commerce business. The goods in their hands are really fake. The logistics order number and logistics path are controlled by real and fake goods. The so-called package clearance is through some abnormal means. Evade the collection of postal tax by domestic customs.
A person from a cosmetics company in South Korea said that there are some counterfeit products that use genuine packaging or very similar packaging. In the previous fake purchasing survey, the reporter learned that if the inventory is not found on the spot, it is a huge challenge for anti-counterfeiting. How to confirm electronic evidence, conduct electronic forensics and identify the crime of the person involved is also a problem. The industry has called for the technology and action of checking fake and anti-counterfeiting to be constantly upgraded in order to eliminate the phenomenon of fake purchase.