Counterfeit luxury fashion brands: Consumer purchase behaviour

Abstract

The act of counterfeiting products has grown at an extraordinary rate within the last two decades and is largely viewed around the world as a social, political and economic issue. Previous research mostly focused on the supply aspects of the counterfeit industry, with little research focusing on consumer demand for such merchandise and even less attention is given to South African consumers’ demand and behaviour thereof The purpose of this article was therefore to describe South African consumers’ purchase behaviour towards counterfeit luxury fashion branded products. The findings revealed that South African consumers have a relatively low demand and purchase behaviour towards counterfeit luxury fashion branded products and that the trading place is mostly in an informal setting.