A study of interest in pet food by consumer food choice type

As the number of households raising pets increases, the pet food industry is also growing. Since pets cannot express their intention explicitly, it appears that the owner's perception mainly affects the selection of products related to pets. In this study, consumers were categorized based on their interest in food choices and the factors influencing their interest in pet food were empirically analyzed. For the analysis, a cluster analysis, factor analysis, and Tobit analysis were conducted using consumer survey data for raising companion animals. The major findings of the study were as follows. As a result of the factor analysis and cluster analysis using questions for consumers' food consumption choices, consumer types were classified into high-interest, low-interest, and practical-seeking types. The degree of interest in pet food was high in the order of high-interest, practical-seeking, and low-interest type. Demographic characteristics such as gender, education, and household type correlate with differences in the degree of interest in pet food, and the food selection criteria of consumers also affect the degree of interest in pet food. These results show that consumers who are more interested in their food choices are more interested in pet food, and this will make possible to know pet owner's purchasing behavior for pet food.