Awareness Survey of Consumers buying Companion Dog Food through Internet

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the expenditure items and expenses for companion dogs and the appropriate considerations when choosing companion dog food for consumers who purchase dog food through the internet. The survey subjects consisted of 39 males (6.8%) and 532 females (93.2%), and it was found that most women purchase dog food through the internet. According to the age of dog owner, 184 (32.2%) were in their 20s and 241 (42.2%) in their 30s and 146 (25.6%) in their 40s or older. According to the age of the dogs, 200 (35%) were under 3 years old, 202 (35.4%) over 8 years old, and 169 (29.6%) were between 4 and 7 years old. The most preferred ingredient was chicken, regardless of dogs' owner or the dogs' age. Spending less than 100,000 won was most frequency reported, regardless of dog owner and the age of the dog, and major dog food was reported to be purchased in the order of online shopping malls and animal hospitals. In order to improve health function, it was determined that improvement of skin and hair is the most important, and next, was improvement of tooth bone formation and digestibility. When choosing food for companion dogs, nutritional composition of all the products was the most important consideration, followed by brand products with recognition, color, smell, shape, functional improvement products, and price of the products. Therefore, when developing a new product for companion dog food, consideration must be given not only to the nutritional components of all products, but also the brands, color, odor, shape, nutritional balance, functional improvement and price.