South Africa’s Most Recommended Brands for 2026 Revealed

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South Africa’s Most Recommended Brands for 2026 Revealed

Woolworths Food has been named South Africa’s most recommended brand for 2026 in the second annual Top 10 Most Recommended Brands released by consumer insights agency KLA, in partnership with YouGov. The rankings are based on data from YouGov’s daily brand and competitor tracking tool, BrandIndex.

Drawing on feedback from current customers over the period of a year, the rankings reflect which brands South Africans are most likely to recommend to a friend or colleague – a powerful indicator of trust and brand advocacy.

Woolworths Food leads the country with a recommendation score of 88.1%, followed by Samsung (86.2%) and Woolworths Clothing (86.0%). The retailer’s dominance runs deeper still, with Woolworths Home in fifth place – giving Woolworths three of the top five positions.

The Top 10 Most Recommended Brands in SA for 2026 are:

Woolworths Food – 88.1%
Samsung – 86.2%
Woolworths Clothing – 86.0%
Markham – 83.1%
Woolworths Home – 82.7%
FNB – 82.6%
Cape Union Mart – 82.4%
Checkers – 82.4%
Investec – 82.4%
Clicks – 81.6%

Markham, Investec and Clicks are new entrants to the ranking this year, while Samsung, Woolworths Home, and FNB hold on to second, fifth and sixth place respectively for a second consecutive year. Woolworths Clothing, Cape Union Mart and Checkers all retain their places in the Top 10, all moving up one rank position, underlining the consistency of the customer experience behind their scores.

“These are the brands South Africans are willing to put their own names behind. Recommendation is one of the few brand metrics that can’t simply be bought. While advertising supports in building awareness, advocacy is earned through consistently delivering experiences worth talking about” says Rakhee Naik, Managing Consultant, Insights at KLA.

The study also identifies the Top 10 Most Improved Brands, recognising those that have made the biggest gains in their recommendation scores year-on-year. These improvements reflect strategic progress in building trust, elevating customer experience, and strengthening brand affinity. The top improvers on recommendation among current customers are Investec, Elegant Fuel and Jet Cellular. While the top improvers are not publicly ranked, clients have access to their individual performance data through KLA.

About the Methodology:

The rankings are based on data collected between 1 June 2025 and 31 May 2026, using YouGov BrandIndex, a continuous brand/market tracking tool that measures public perception of thousands of brands globally – including over 200 brands in South Africa.

The recommendation score is calculated based on the percentage of a brand’s current customers who say they would recommend the brand to a friend or colleague, versus those who would not. Current customers are defined as respondents who have purchased from the brand within the past 30 days to 12 months, with the timeframe differing by sector.

Brands must have a minimum sample size of 200 to be included, and to qualify for the Top 10, a brand must have scores available for at least six months of the tracking period. The “Most Improved” list is based on the year-on-year change in positive recommendation scores among current customers – not brand awareness or ad recall, but actual user-based advocacy – with qualifying brands requiring scores available for at least 18 months.