Dismantling Grey Markets
Discover what grey markets are and how globaleyez uncovers and eliminates grey market activities to protect your brand’s reputation and ensure your business's success.
Authorized trade
Authorized trade involves dealers officially approved by the manufacturer to sell their products. They buy directly from the manufacturer, receive specialized training, and often offer warranties.
Consumers can typically identify authorized dealers by an official seal or label.
Grey markets
The grey market involves legally produced products sold through unauthorized channels, often to exploit price differences between countries.
While purchases are generally legal, they may lack warranty, returns, and service, and sometimes breach manufacturer agreements.
Black markets
The black market involves illegal trade of counterfeit, stolen, or restricted goods and services, often conducted anonymously and cash-based.
Examples include drugs, arms, and human trafficking.
Main Grey Market Problems
How grey markets can damage a brand and a company
1. Price pressure
Grey markets exert price pressure on the regular market, as retailers buy and resell products at different prices between countries, usually outside the official distribution channels.
This lowers prices at authorized dealers, devalues the brand image, and makes a uniform global pricing strategy more difficult, whereby worldwide price harmonization is difficult. Brands are also losing control over their distribution channels.
2. Brand value and image damage
Cheap grey market prices devalue the product, weakening the brand image. Customers who pay more at authorized dealers feel disadvantaged, which weakens trust in the brand.
Negative experiences with grey market products, like a lack of warranty or poor support, often harm the manufacturer’s reputation over time.
3. Strain on relationships with authorized dealers
Authorized dealers invest in service and brand development, but are undercut by grey market dealers.
This leads to channel conflicts, demotivation, and possibly the loss of important sales partners.
Our solutions
How globaleyez can help dismantle grey market structures
Online Monitoring
Online platforms boost grey market sales by enabling retailers to sell products outside authorized channels, often at lower prices. Their anonymity and global reach challenge manufacturers' efforts to monitor and control distribution.
With comprehensive online monitoring services based on keyword, image, and OSINT research, we support brands in detecting grey market offers worldwide.
Test purchases
Test purchases are an effective means of making grey market structures visible, securing evidence, and taking targeted action against unauthorized retailers.
They help companies to protect their sales channels, maintain brand integrity, and avoid financial and reputational damage.
✔ Uncovering the origin and distribution chain
Test purchases reveal a product’s origin and sales channels, helping identify sellers and uncover unauthorized distribution networks.
✔ Verification of compliance with distribution contracts
Test purchases help identify distribution breaches, such as reselling to unauthorized dealers or in forbidden markets.
✔ Preservation of evidence for legal action
Test purchases provide documented evidence (e.g., proof of purchase, shipping information) that can be used in legal disputes or to enforce injunctive relief against gray market traders.
✔ Support with monitoring and tracking
Combined with serial number tracking, test purchases reveal if products were meant for a specific market or client and how they entered the grey market.
Enforcement
The combination of rapid takedown measures and sustainable compliance structures offers comprehensive protection against gray market activities.
Takedowns
Takedown measures enable companies to quickly identify and remove unauthorized offers and sellers on online marketplaces and beyond.
Consistent takedown management reduces the visibility of grey market offers, which makes such sales channels less attractive to unauthorized dealers and benefits the official sales channels.
Compliance
Compliance measures involve guidelines, processes, and tech solutions to control product distribution and traceability.
Regular risk assessments and monitoring help identify vulnerabilities early, protecting against grey market activities and legal risks from non-compliance.
Documentation
We document breaches, grey market activities, and products to support targeted enforcement and legal proof.
Our Google Chrome extension, screenseal, provides tamper-proof timestamps for secure, verifiable screenshots. screenseal is an effective brand protection tool, and you can benefit from its workflow-optimizing features when using it yourself.
Dismantling Grey Market Structures with traxster
traxster features a built-in VAT screening that allows you to differentiate between authorized and unauthorized sellers on marketplaces displaying VAT data. This enables you to:
✔ Identify trusted and untrusted sellers across any marketplace
✔ View sales figures attributed to each seller or group
✔ Detect aliases and listings of authorised dealers
✔ Spot irregular activities, such as unusually low prices
These capabilities help you quickly uncover grey market structures, monitor authorized vendors, and maintain control over product offers.
Contact us
We look forward to finding a suitable solution for your challenges together with you.