Pampered pets: The rising demand for luxury

Growing consumer interest in sophisticated petrelated offerings is driving the ‘luxury’ trend, with the pet care landscape evolving to include customized skin treatments, branded designer goods and even fine dining for dogs.

Despite regulatory and cultural challenges in some regions, there are plenty of growth opportunities, especially in untapped rural markets.

Splashing out on pets

South Korea is a prime example of a country where pets have become important family members, partly due to societal changes such as the rise in the number of single-person households.

Data compiled by Korean credit card company Shinhan Card concluded that the average annual spending on pet services and products in South Korea was ₩353,000 ($255/€234) per person in 2022, the highest in 4 years.

In 2019, the average spent was ₩262,000 ($196/€180), reaching ₩313,000 ($233/€214) in 2021.

A similar rise in spending can also be seen in other East Asian countries such as China and Japan.

Skin treatments

Many South Korean pet parents are willing to travel from the other side of the country so that their cats and dogs can experience a full range of luxury skin treatments.

Animal skin clinic La Peau Claire opened in the wealthy Seoul neighborhood of Cheongdam-dong in 2023.

“I established my clinic to offer various skin treatment options such as laser therapy and skin boosters for animals suffering from skin issues,” Lee Tae-hyun, CEO and Chief Veterinarian of the clinic, tells PETS International.

Since its opening, the clinic has experienced steady growth. The increasing number of clients traveling from places as distant as Jeju Island, approximately 465 km south of Seoul, has prompted Lee to hire more nurses and veterinarians. This expansion aims to ensure more comfortable treatment experiences for the clinic’s furry patients.

“As pets have become more important for people, I think it has become a trend to seek more professional, accurate and customized treatment.

Therefore, there are many specialized clinics in Korea, especially in Seoul, including ophthalmology, dentistry and dermatology,” Lee adds.

“Currently, there are few facilities with a similar concept to ours, and I believe the market for animal skin treatment will gradually expand worldwide.”

Lee’s clinic has recently introduced 6 new skin treatment methods, and new services to treat skin atopy and alopecia in animals, in addition to performing exosome procedures.

Based on a trend emerging from human medicine, exosome procedures offer regenerative skin treatments aimed at improving skin texture and tone, reducing anti-aging symptoms like wrinkles, and promoting hair growth (i.e. fur growth in pets).

Branded designer goods

Nowadays, pet parents can style their pets with luxury designer goods from high-end brands.

Christian Dior, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Goyard, Hermès and Gucci are among the big names that include pet collections in their fashion lines.

In early June, for example, French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton unveiled its men’s and man’s best friend matching range in its Spring/Summer 2025 Men’s Pre-Collection. Titled Dog LVers, the range includes not just dog-inspired menswear, but also dog accessories.

The luxury canine collection features items such as carriers, bowls, leashes and bandanas, all styled in Louis Vuitton’s natural cowhide leather trim and displaying the brand’s unmistakable monogram.

Luxury daycare and boarding

As pet parents worldwide increasingly indulge their furry friends, demand for premium pet care services is on the rise.

One such service is Little Gems by My Second Home, a luxury daycare and boarding resort exclusively for small dogs that opened in Dubai in January this year.

The resort has more than 1,000 luxury suites and 30,000 sq ft of play areas. This high-end facility is the latest business expansion of My Second Home, an established Dubai-based canine care center.

The rise in luxury dog boarding corresponds with a pet care market forecast by Fairfield Market Research. This predicts that the dog segment will continue to dominate the industry in the coming years, following on from the significant growth in the global pet care market in 2022.

Specifically, Fairfield expects the Asia Pacific region to be the fastest-growing market for pet care due to the region’s economic growth, which has led to a surge in pet hotels, grooming salons, daycare centers and training facilities.

Gourmet dining for dogs

Premium pet meals are gaining in popularity. There are even some restaurants offering pets ‘omakase’ experiences – a Japanese word commonly used in restaurants indicating the guest’s trust in the chef to customize their order.

In Seoul, for example, one restaurant offers a 3-course menu for dogs starting at ₩23,000 ($16.50/€15.25), with pets dining alongside their owners.

According to local media reports, the average number of meals served per week has grown to 40 since the enterprise’s opening in 2021.

In Indonesia, gourmet dog food brand Tofu’s Kitchen offers pet food that resembles human cuisine. The options include Hainanese chicken rice, a typical Japanese bento box and a plate of dim sum and spring rolls.

Dishes are prepared with high-quality and organic ingredients, such as Wagyu beef. A full 3-course meal with appetizer, main course and dessert costs about 300,000 rupiah ($21/€17) and Tofu’s Kitchen can earn a profit of 20-30% from sales.

Terrilynn Tjipta launched the concept in May in collaboration with a luxurious, pet-friendly apartment complex in a southern suburb of Jakarta.

“The business took off after I posted the food on Instagram and many responded that they also wanted to have the same food for their dogs. But this is not a mass product because it’s still a home industry and I only produce the food in certain seasons or for occasions such as Christmas, Easter or Indonesia’s Independence Day,” she says.

Tjipta now plans to set up an office to manage increasing orders and further develop her fine-dining experience for pets and their parents, which she calls Dine in with Paws.