While millennials thought of their pets as friends, baby boomers saw them as their own children. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, March 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Millennials, born between 1985 and 1996, consider pets to be their friends, while baby boomers, born between 1955 and 1964, see them as children.
LOTTE Members, operator of membership reward service L.POINT, conducted a nationwide survey of 600 men and women between 23 and 64 years of age, which revealed that 29.6 percent of millennials, 25.4 percent of Generation X-ers (born between 1975 and 1984), and 31.3 percent of baby boomers owned a pet.
While millennials thought of their pets as friends (34 percent), baby boomers saw them as their own children (51.5 percent).
Gen Xers also thought of their pets as children (38 percent) more than as friends (25 percent).
Most respondents purchased pet food and snacks from open markets.
While millennials bought pet food online, through portals such as Naver Shopping and other social commerce services, baby boomers were more likely to shop offline at pet clinics or shopping malls.
Roughly two thirds of respondents had visited hair salons for pets, while 42 percent had visited pet cafes.
One third of respondents wanted to hold funerals for their pets (33.5 percent), take out pet insurance policies (33 percent), and get correction and training services for their pets (31.5 percent).
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
