Rising Demand for Premium Pet Food from Cost-Effective Feed to Health Supplements
Expansion of In-Store Pet Corners and Product Diversification Trends
Recently, Hojoon Kwon, a man in his 30s who started living with a pet cat, has been stopping by a large supermarket near his home more frequently on his way home from work. This is to check out cat snacks and other items in the pet section of the store. Mr. Kwon said, “Whenever I come grocery shopping, I always make sure to visit the pet section because I think of my cat,” adding, “There are various types of snacks and toys, and since they are consumables, I tend to pick up at least one item each time I visit.”
As the number of pet owners in Korea increases, sales related to pet food, snacks, and supplies in large supermarkets are steadily rising. The industry plans to actively respond to the growing demand by expanding in-store pet sections and diversifying product lines.
According to the industry on the 11th, last year, the sales of the ‘Molly’s’ division, which handles pet products at E-Mart, increased by 4.4% compared to the previous year. This continued a growth rate of around 5%, following 5.7% in 2021. SSG.com’s pet specialty section, ‘Molly’s SSG,’ recorded a cumulative order count of 880,000 and a cumulative ordered product count of 2.17 million within one year of its launch, and the number of products handled expanded from an initial 300,000 to about 500,000.
Lotte Mart, which operates the pet specialty store ‘Collioli,’ also saw related sales increase by 15% last year compared to the previous year. This shows an increasing growth rate year by year, following 5% in 2020 and 10% in 2021. Homeplus also continued its growth trend, with sales of pet-related products rising about 18% year-on-year last month.
The growth in pet-related sales is attributed to the steadily increasing number of pet owners in Korea and changing perceptions toward pets. An industry insider explained, “As the concept of pets has shifted from being just dogs and cats to family members called companion dogs and companion cats, consumption related to pets is becoming more active than before.” They added, “The recent increase in single-person households and issues like COVID-19 blues have also influenced the rise in pet ownership and related sales.”
According to the ‘2021 Korea Pet Report’ published by KB Financial Group Management Research Institute, about 14.48 million people own pets, and pet-owning households account for 29.7% of all households. This means that one in four Koreans lives with a pet.
As the pet population grows and demand for related products increases, many large supermarkets are expanding their specialty stores or pet sections. Currently, E-Mart operates 26 ‘Molly’s Pet Shop’ stores, showing an annual growth rate of around 5%. The company explains that specialty stores have larger sales volumes and faster growth than the ‘Mini Molly’s’ stores inside regular E-Mart locations because customers can directly experience and purchase about 3,000 different products.
Homeplus also established the ‘My Pet Land’ pet section in seven ‘Homeplus Mega Food Market’ stores last year. This year, Homeplus plans to strengthen the My Pet Land section by expanding large pet supplies and aquariums, introducing functional and raw ingredient snacks zoning, and adding premium pet food, with plans for additional openings.
Products contributing significantly to sales are also expanding from cost-effective pet food to premium items such as pet health functional foods. Lotte Mart operates a specialized zone for pet health functional foods in Collioli, and sales in this category more than doubled compared to 2021. A Lotte Mart official explained, “This is analyzed to be due to the increase in pet families who consider pets as family members and the longer periods of living with pets, which raises the need to care for aging pets.”
The industry plans to offer a diverse range of pet food and supplies to meet the increasingly varied demands that come with the growing pet population. An E-Mart official said, “Interest in pet fashion is rising recently, so we plan to newly introduce clothing and accessories in Mini Molly’s stores as well,” adding, “In addition, we plan to develop a variety of cost-effective large-quantity snacks and private brand (PB) products to suit the difficult economic situation.”
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