S. Korean ‘pet economy’ boom triggers wave of tech innovations

Pet tech: An air shower and dry room targeted at pets that cannot be bathed too often. — The Straits Times/ANN

After bathing her dog, Kim Hee-eun would put the two-year-old pomeranian spitz in a “dry room”.

“It usually takes a lot of time and energy to dry the dog’s fur after bathing and it suffers as well,” said the 29-year-old civil servant.

Shaped like a standard pet carrier, the dry room functions like a hairdryer with wind blowing from all directions. It takes only 10 to 20 minutes to dry her dog, she said.

“Using the dry room, which costs around 1 million won (RM3,531), is convenient as it requires less human effort and the pet can rest inside.”

Park So-hee, meanwhile, uses a pet closed-circuit television (CCTV) to monitor her five-year-old Korean shorthair cat.

“This is to prevent emergencies when the whole family is out,” said Park, 28, who works in an IT firm.

“I can check on my pet frequently so I feel safe. I can also better understand my pet’s behaviour.”

The two women are among a growing group of pet owners who are using technology to care for their beloved animals at home, as pet ownership surged in South Korea.

An estimated 6.38 million households owned pets last year – up from 5.9 million in 2019, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The pet-related industry is expected to grow from 3.7 trillion won (RM13 bil) this year to 6 trillion won by 2027, said the Korea Rural Economic Institute.

This “pet economy” boom has triggered a wave of tech innovations by companies eager to woo pet owners, from Samsung to LG and even Cuckoo, a brand best known for its pressure rice cookers.

With the Covid-19 pandemic keeping people at home, LG has seen a spike in demand for appliances that keep homes cleaner and healthier, said Ken Hong, LG’s head of global communications.

“Pet hair and odours have been a key area of LG’s R&D focus, resulting in better air filtration and vacuum technologies,” he said.

In July, LG launched a premium air purifier with a “pet mode” to better clean spaces used by pets and remove pet fur floating in the air. Costing 1.8 million won (RM6,356), it is also equipped with a photocatalytic deodorising filter to better remove pet odour.

Samsung launched in April an artificial intelligence-powered robot vacuum cleaner that not only cleans but keeps an eye – an inbuilt camera – on pets.

It is supposedly so smart that it can monitor a dog’s health condition based on its barking and notify the owner when something is amiss. It costs 1.59 million won (RM5,615). — The Straits Times/ANN