eKomi’s Review of Top Dairy Companies in South Africa (SA)

This StarInsights report focuses on the SA manufactures of dairy products. It describes the producers and processors across a range of products and the factors influencing their success. There are comprehensive profiles of top notable industry players, who were examined based on their online reputation, brand credibility, and consumer satisfaction obtained through user reviews and ratings online.

An Industry Analysis of Dairy Companies in SA

The dairy sector is a diverse industry with primary and secondary components. On one hand, the primary industry is made up of milk producers who own and run dairy farms. A number of producer distributors, who sell their own produce directly to retailers and consumers, as well as a few larger, regionally focused dairy product processors, make up the processing industry. Inversely, the secondary industry is made up of producers who create the six categories of dairy products: Milk and Cream, Concentrated Milk, Buttermilk and Yoghurt, Whey, Butter and Oils, and Cheese.

Over the past years, there has been a significant amount of consolidation at the production level in the dairy industry, and large farms now produce 80% of all the milk in SA. (StatistiaSA: 2021) However, challenges have arisen, particularly for small producers, as a result of rising production costs, imports, fewer producers, drought, shifting consumer preferences, regulation, and competition from multinational corporations.

Although a variety of challenges exist, much is attributed to consumers’ consumption patterns and preferences. Due to growing health concerns, some consumers are switching to dairy products with low levels of lactose and sugar, and the demand for plant-based products is rising. A diet free of dairy products is increasingly popular as a weight-loss strategy. However, it is highly ineffective because of the lack of wholesome nutrients that this type of diet may cause. Dairy products should always be a part of a human’s diet, and low-fat dairy products are a good substitute if one’s trying to lose weight.

Impact of Reviews on the Dairy Industry

When choosing food, consumers consider a number of factors, including taste, freshness, and naturalness. Along with the product’s flavour, aroma, freshness, and naturalness, these are just a few elements that influence consumer decisions. Nonetheless, in this digital age, reviews ultimately reveal all the info and research a customer needs before they make a decision.

Reviews are significant because they allow potential customers to learn about the positive interactions that others have had with a business. Contextually, considering that dairy products are now a staple of a regular diet, customer reviews and ratings determine the dairy company that makes an impact on the industry. 

After reading online reviews, consumers’ purchasing decisions go through a psychological process that combines information processing and vision. As a result, this report seeks to ascertain how satisfied consumers are with dairy products in order to offer manufacturers useful data that will help them improve the calibre of their output. 

In order to identify the top dairy companies in SA with the most talked-about products and services as of 8 November 2022, we searched Google Maps. We examined more than a hundred companies and narrowed our scope to the best ten dairy companies through a screening process that aggregates the top-rated and the most reviewed dairy companies. Without further ado, let’s delve into the stats, as illustrated in the tables below.

Highest rated dairy companies

Dairy	Ratings	Number of Reviews
Oh Oat Milk	5.0	17
Belnori Boutique Cheesery	4.6	118
Indezi River Creamery	4.5	281
Wynn-With Milk Farm	4.5	50
Transem (Pty) Ltd	4.5	19
Lactalis South Africa (Pty) Ltd	4.4	60
Fairfield Dairy (Pty) Ltd	4.4	50
Lausanne Dairies	4.4	14
Orange Grove Dairy	4.3	128
Woodlands Dairy (Pty) Ltd	4.2	225

Most reviewed dairy companies

Dairy	Number of Reviews	Ratings
Unique Dairy Products	302	4.1
Woodlands Dairy (Pty) Ltd	225	4.2
Oakland Dairies	130	4.0
Nestle (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd	129	4.2
Orange Grove Dairy	128	4.3
Dewfresh	125	3.9
Belnori Boutique Cheesery	118	4.6
Clover S.A. (Pty) Ltd	111	4.1
Douglasdale Dairy (Pty) Ltd	97	3.9
Lactalis South Africa (Pty) Ltd	66	4.3

We are happy to single out Oh Oat Milk, with an amazingly perfect score of 5.0 stars, as the highest rated dairy company in SA. Followed by Belnori Boutique Cheesery with a stable 4.6-star rating from 118 reviews. The rest of the listed companies, however, managed to maintain a stable rating with an average of 4:Point, star ratings.

In terms of reviews, Unique Dairy Products is the most reviewed company with 302 reviews, Woodlands Dairy (Pty) Ltd and Oakland Dairies follow the ranking respectively with 225 reviews and 

130 reviews apiece. The remaining dairies among the most-reviewed ones have a decent number of reviews and there is room for improvement. By the same token, it might be time for the remaining businesses, who have reviews less than a hundred, to build up their review count and stay competitive.

Congratulations to all the listed companies in both categories. These dairy companies have made considerable progress in delivering a better experience for their customers by putting a strong emphasis on building meaningful relationships.

Recommendations and Conclusions on Dairy Companies

Given the value of customer feedback, dairy companies would be wise to incorporate it into their marketing strategy. They can boost a dairy’s credibility, encourage new customers to associate with their brands, and raise the website’s ranking on Google. If you haven’t been gathering customer feedback, you should start doing so right away. These reviews are effective marketing tools that will ultimately be very beneficial to your company.

Numerous businesses from numerous industries have benefited from eKomi’s good evaluations and high search engine rankings, which have helped the company’s bottom line. eKomi will essentially increase this sector’s exposure while reducing its risk. (Request for a free consultation).

In three months, we will re-evaluate the dairy companies in SA. Stay tuned to the eKomi blog and find out if your establishment gets recognition!