Three out of every ten people own pets, and South Korea's pet economy is booming.
“Tens of millions of pet owners are propping up the South Korean pet market.”
Produced by | Cross - border Frontier Author | Xu Xiaoyu
01 The Outbreak of the South Korean Pet Market
In the global consumer market, the pet economy is seizing the high - ground of the market at an astonishing growth rate, rising rapidly and becoming an emerging force that cannot be ignored.
Recently, the KB Financial Group released the “2025 South Korean Pet Report”, which analyzed various aspects such as the scale of the South Korean pet market, pet care trends, and pet expenses. The report data shows that as of the end of 2024, the number of pet owners in South Korea reached 15.46 million, accounting for 29.9% of the total population. That is to say, about 3 out of every 10 South Koreans own pets.
In terms of the number of pet - owning households, it reached 5.91 million, a 1.1% increase compared to 5.85 million at the end of 2023. The average monthly pet - related expenditure of pet - owning households was 194,000 won, a 26% increase compared to 154,000 won in 2023. Among them, the consumption expenditure on food accounted for more than half, including feed, snacks, health products, etc. Daily necessities and beauty products were also key categories of expenditure for pet - owning households. When purchasing pet food, more than half of the consumers focused on nutritional ingredients, followed by factors such as price, origin, and brand.
Priority order of concerns when purchasing pet food Source: KB Kookmin Card
It is worth noting that as the status of pets in the family has gradually improved and they have become like “family members” in the hearts of many people, therefore, the expenditure on them has also been increasing year by year.
Take the funeral expenses as an example. Currently, the average funeral expenses of pet - owning households are 463,000 won, a 22% increase compared to 380,000 won in 2023. The reason for this increase is that the proportion of direct burial has decreased significantly, and some people choose to turn their pets' remains into souvenirs, driving up this consumption.
The annual increase in pet expenses Source: KB Kookmin Card
Another point that cannot be ignored in the report is the age - group proportion of pet owners. As expected, the consumption proportion of people aged 30 and above is the highest, but unexpectedly, the group aged 60 and above has the fastest growth: a 57% increase in pet hospital expenditure and a 77% increase in supplies expenditure.
Consumption trends of different age groups Source: KB Kookmin Card
This situation well reflects the trend that the elderly are regarding pets as life companions and are willing to spend more on them.
02 Surging Business Opportunities
From a global perspective, the pet market presents broad development prospects. Previous data showed that the global pet supplies market is expected to reach $154 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.8%. The “Pet Economy Report” also released research showing that the scale of the industry will soar from the current $320 billion to nearly $500 billion, a growth rate of up to 45%.
The continuous growth of the pet industry scale Source: pet age
With the continuous growth of the market, many platforms have also discovered the huge opportunities behind it and started to make crazy layouts. Among them, Amazon's performance is very eye - catching. According to Statista data, Amazon has become the world's largest pet supplies retailer in terms of online sales, and by 2027, Amazon's pet e - commerce sales are expected to exceed $39 billion.
In addition, China occupies a key position in the global pet supplies supply chain. From basic pet food processing to high - end pet supplies manufacturing, it has significant advantages in going global. Take pet supplies as an example. Chinese factories can quickly respond to market demand and carry out large - scale production. With cost advantages and an efficient supply chain system, they have strong price competitiveness in the global market and can meet the needs of different consumption levels.
Currently, in the pet supplies track, many successful pet supplies exporters have emerged. Hangzhou Tianyuan Pet is a successful example.
Data shows that in 2024, Tianyuan Pet's operating income reached 2.76 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 35.7%. Among them, overseas operating income reached 1.332 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 18.4%, accounting for 48.2% of the total operating income. In terms of categories, pet beds and cat trees were the main sources of its revenue, accounting for 27.06% of the total revenue in total.
In the process of going global, Tianyuan initially entered the international market through ODM/OEM, serving giants such as Walmart and Amazon, focusing on aspects such as supplier quality, supply chain management, product development and design, and customer development and maintenance. However, as the OEM business gradually stabilized, Tianyuan Pet also started to “step from behind the scenes to the front stage” and created its own brands, such as Made4Pets, which focuses on mid - to high - end pet home products, and Petstar, its first self - owned brand of full - category pet supplies.
Tianyuan Pet's self - owned brands Source: Amazon
In order to further enhance the competitiveness of its brand in the overseas market, Tianyuan has also been continuously building overseas warehouses in the United States and Europe to reduce logistics costs and optimizing the supply chain in Southeast Asia. In April this year, Tianyuan Pet announced that it will invest approximately 100 million yuan to build a pet supplies production base in Cambodia to produce pet supplies such as cat trees and pet beds.
In short, the booming development of the South Korean pet economy has opened a door full of opportunities for the cross - border e - commerce industry. With the continuous release of the potential of the global pet market, Chinese cross - border e - commerce enterprises are expected to achieve greater success in the overseas pet market with their supply chain advantages in the pet supplies field.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Cross - border Frontier”, author: Xu Xiaoyu, published with authorization.
