Pet Friends (CEO Hyunshin Yoon), a pet commerce platform, announced that it recorded its first-ever profit in 2025. The company explained that it achieved both growth and improved profitability through continuous expansion of transaction volume and improved operational efficiency.
Pet Friends' 2025 gross merchandise value (GMV) is projected to reach KRW 151.5 billion, with sales reaching KRW 128.5 billion. These figures represent an 8.5% and 9.8% increase, respectively, compared to the previous year. Notably, Pet Friends is the first pet commerce company to surpass KRW 150 billion in annual transaction volume, demonstrating its ability to achieve economies of scale within the market.
Profitability indicators also improved. As of 2025, the operating profit margin was 0.4% and the net profit margin was 0.2%, representing year-on-year increases of 3.7 and 6.4 percentage points, respectively. Pet Friends surpassed its monthly break-even point (BEP) for the first time in May 2024, and achieved its first quarterly profit in the second quarter of 2025, followed by a half-year profit in the first half of the year, and an annual profit.
The company emphasizes its continued profitability improvement despite rapid growth. Founded in 2015, Pet Friends accelerated its business expansion following its acquisition by IMM Private Equity (IMM PE) and GS Retail in 2021, and has since maintained an average annual growth rate of approximately 20%.
Over the past five years, transaction volume has steadily increased from KRW 73.2 billion in 2021 to KRW 103.1 billion in 2022, KRW 123.3 billion in 2023, KRW 139.6 billion in 2024, and KRW 151.5 billion in 2025. Sales also expanded from KRW 61 billion in 2021 to KRW 128.5 billion in 2025, recording an average annual growth rate of over 20%. Through this growth, the company successfully turned a profit, recording operating profit of KRW 500 million and net income of KRW 200 million in 2025.
Pet Friends cited customer loyalty, enhanced negotiating power, operational efficiency, and business expansion as key factors behind this success. In particular, the company has enhanced the user experience through data-driven personalized recommendations and the "Butler Life" community service, reflecting the unique characteristics of pet-focused commerce. Currently, the annual repurchase rate among Pet Friends customers is approximately 85%, and the average purchase amount is increasing by approximately 10% annually.
Furthermore, the analysis shows that product competitiveness and profitability have both improved as the company's bargaining power with brands and suppliers has increased due to the expansion of transaction volume. The company's operational efficiency, achieved through the establishment of its own logistics system, has also contributed to cost reductions and improved productivity. Furthermore, the diversification of its revenue structure by expanding into high-margin business areas such as advertising has also had a positive impact on growth and profitability.
Yoon Hyun-shin, CEO of Pet Friends, explained that achieving the first annual profit while transaction volume continues to increase is the result of simultaneously achieving both growth and profitability goals, and stated that going forward, they will strengthen their position in the market by expanding their business into various pet-related service areas based on their commerce competitiveness.
With the recent increase in the pet population and the expansion of the pet commerce market, there is an increasing movement of companies to expand their businesses into the entire pet lifestyle, including healthcare, insurance, and content, centered around commerce platforms.
- See more related articles
You must be logged in to post a comment.