Home&Shopping first in industry to deploy AI monitoring for counterfeit products

Home&Shopping has become the first home shopping company in South Korea to introduce an AI-powered monitoring system for counterfeit products.

The company said Tuesday it built the system in partnership with Faikerz, an AI-based counterfeit detection firm, to proactively block the distribution of fake goods on its platform.

The system uses AI to analyze a range of data — including product images, names, prices, sales patterns and distribution channels — to flag listings suspected of being counterfeit.

When a suspicious product is identified, sales are halted immediately. The company then reviews documentation submitted by the vendor and assesses whether the item is genuine before deciding whether to allow sales to resume. If a suspected counterfeit case is reported through the customer feedback channel, Home&Shopping also conducts a physical inspection in coordination with a specialist agency.

For parallel-import luxury goods sold on air, only products that have passed authentication by the Korea Association for Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TIPA), a specialist body for verifying luxury goods, are allowed on sale. Quality and authenticity monitoring continues after broadcast, and additional verification is carried out if customer concerns arise.

Home&Shopping already uses customer feedback data in its broader quality management operations. The company screens products with potential quality vulnerabilities to manage risk factors in advance, and for products that consumers are likely to misunderstand, it provides detailed guidance on quality characteristics and usage precautions through both broadcast and mobile channels.

An emergency inspection system is also activated when social issues or external media coverage raise the possibility of a quality problem. The company quickly screens affected products and reviews their detail pages to identify potential risk factors.

As the range of products sold online continues to expand, the role of retailers in pre-sale verification is growing in importance. Home&Shopping said it plans to use AI to broaden the scope of product management before and after sales and to strengthen consumer trust.

"We are continuously upgrading our counterfeit monitoring and quality management systems so that customers can shop with confidence," a company official said. "We will further strengthen our product verification capabilities and quality management standards to help create a retail environment that customers can trust and to promote a sound retail order."