Interest in pet training programs has risen with owners realizing that their beloved animals can appear threatening and frightening to others. (Image courtesy of Max Pixel)
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Judging by the numbers, the habit of owning pets has found a permanent home in South Korean culture.
Marketing firm Innocean Worldwide predicted that the domestic “petconomy” will double from 2.9 trillion won last year to 5.8 trillion won by 2020 in a report detailing the latest consumer trends and attitude changes regarding pets published on February 11.
The report highlights a key emergent trend it has dubbed “pet-me”. Adherents to this philosophy cherish their pets as much or more than they do themselves, going a step beyond “pet-family” style owners, who merely regard their pets as family members.
The pet-me belief is broken down into three underlying keywords that describe the interests of this category of pet owners: “petlearning”, “petluxury” and “petpride”.
The pet-me belief is broken down into three underlying keywords that describe the interests of this category of pet owners: “petlearning”, “petluxury” and “petpride”. (Image: Innocean)
Petlearning appears to have been an outgrowth of “petiquette” (pets + etiquette), itself a keyword that trended after a number of high profile incidents of dogs biting strangers led to heightened public consternation over pet owners’ lack of caution and awareness.
As a result, interest in pet training programs has risen with owners realizing that their beloved animals can appear threatening and frightening to others.
Most frequently appearing keywords pertaining to petlearning online were the Animal Protection Act that is set to be enacted in March, training, education, experts, and safety.
Petluxury, as the name suggests, denotes the tendency for owners to shower their animals with a wide range of privileges as a way of displaying their affection and to take part in their pets’ enjoyment vicariously.
Stores peddling pricey pet products are experiencing a boom in popularity, with growth observed in the number of pet-friendly hotels, pet-restaurants, pet-concerts, and other establishments catering to man, woman, child and pet.
Cafe, beauty shop, hotel, and handmade treats were the keywords associated with petluxury most commonly found.
Whether it be showing off or simply sharing, in the past few years the number of pet related Instagram posts has risen dramatically. Compared to 2013, when only 6.2 percent of all social networking site pet related posts were from Instagram, by last year Instagram took the cake with 96.1 percent of all posts.
Compared to 2013, when only 6.2 percent of all social networking site pet related posts were from Instagram, by last year Instagram took the cake with 96.1 percent of all posts. (Image: Instagram Screenshot)
According to Innocean, the photo sharing app has become the main platform for displaying petpride.
More than 4 million social data keywords from Instagram, the blogosphere, Twitter and news articles were analyzed for this report.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
