Shopping for girlsThe Handbag Megasite for Australians

Music, movies and software have long been known as favourite targets for piracy. The main reason why there is a strong market for pirated products is the expensive price tag attached with the original product. Included in the list of such products are the designer handbags, the market for which is flourishing around the world. The factor most responsible for this is that not everyone can afford the real thing.  The authentic pieces of these designer bags come at an exorbitant price and cost a lot more than their imitations. In many places, there is a standardization of these imitated products, such as AAA category handbags that represent products made in China and are circulated on a large scale world-wide.

Price is not the only factor responsible for the wide circulation of these imitated handbags. Often it is the non-availability of the authentic products in the market that forces people to settle for the copycats. In many countries, there are excessively high tariff on imported goods that is responsible for a strong market for these imitated handbags and often people take them for real, for instance in some African and Asian countries. Most of the time, the focus of the advertising campaigns of the original handbags is only European countries and in North America, and other markets are quite often ignored because of poor purchasing power of people.

The piracy of handbags is, however, different in nature from those of music, movies and software in the sense that these imitated products act as gateway handbag products. Most women, who buy these products knowing their authenticity, do so because of a tight budget and they appear keen to switch over to the authentic pieces as their income level increases. In that sense, they are all the more keen to buy an original piece of a designer handbag once they are out of the budget constraint they are currently facing.

The pirated handbags also serve the purpose of advertising for the real one. Women are more likely to get attracted to an original piece of these bags if they see someone around them carrying a designer piece even if an imitated one. The previous buying experience with an imitated bag also acts a fuel to their insistence on an authentic piece when they decide to buy next time, especially if they have been dissatisfied with the poor quality of the fake product, which is quite likely to happen with these imitated products.