Be Safe Online with Official.co.uk and National Consumer Week

Statistics released by The Anti-Counterfeiting Group estimate that around £11billion per year is lost across all industry sectors as a direct result of counterfeiting. The internet is the fastest growing market for fake goods of all kinds, including sports merchandise, pharmaceuticals, clothing and electronics, and is almost impossible to police.

In response, the Trading Standards Institute launched National Consumer Week; an initiative that aims to raise consumers’ awareness of a range of issues that impact on their daily lives. The theme of the event this year is online shopping and the message is Be Safe Online – beware of fake sites and fake products. So what can online shoppers to do to make sure they’re not being duped into buying counterfeit products?

A UK shopping directory launched today aims to alleviate those concerns for shoppers buying on the internet; Official.co.uk has made it their business to take the hassle out of shopping online by only listing websites that sell genuine products. Buying from a website featured on Official.co.uk is the safest and most secure way to spend money online, as customers are assured that the items they have ordered are from an official online store that doesn’t sell fakes or copies.

What’s more, Official.co.uk has a number of useful features to help save both time and money when shopping online. The first is a dedicated voucher code portal, supplying users with all the latest discount codes from their directory of stores. They work directly with the retailers to ensure they only offer official and valid online discounts. There is also a Gift Directory designed to take the headache out of purchasing presents by highlighting the most popular products from each sector. Development is also under way to add an Exclusives section to the site, where users will be able to access offers, deals and savings that can’t be found anywhere else on the net.

Paul, the founder of Official.co.uk added, “Most of us have been victims of online fraud at some point and after reading about National Consumer Week I decided to combat this issue through the creation of a safe, one-stop shop for online buyers. All the stores and stockists listed on Official.co.uk have been checked to ensure that they are genuine retailers; we’ve reviewed every one of the online shopping sites listed and only recommend those that sell official merchandise. So, if you want to go shopping online for quality, branded goods, you can trust that we will only direct you to shops and stockists of genuine products and services.”

Tags: anti-counterfeiting, national consumer week, Official

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