While online retail in South Africa surged past R130-billion in 2025, now accounting for nearly 10% of total retail spend, the growth of digital grocery delivery has far outpaced the transparency of those platforms. According to research from World Wide Worx, shoppers are increasingly moving online, yet a new service called We Need Milk argues that consumers remain largely in the dark regarding the true value and nutritional impact of their purchases.
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Arjan van den Berg, co-founder and CEO of We Need Milk, identifies this phenomenon as “basket blindness.” He notes that most current grocery apps force users into a tedious item-by-item comparison, often obscuring vital data like pack sizes, nutritional info, or the total basket value until the final checkout screen. This lack of transparency is compounded by the fact that third-party delivery platforms can mark up in-store prices by as much as 39%, leaving shoppers unaware of how much they are overpaying for convenience.
We Need Milk aims to solve these issues at the planning stage rather than at the point of sale. The platform allows users to build shopping lists and meal plans while simultaneously comparing prices, active specials, and nutritional data across multiple retailers. Van den Berg emphasizes that providing this data is about more than just saving money; it’s about consumer education. He believes that every rand spent is essentially a “vote” on a person’s lifestyle, whether that means choosing healthier ingredients or supporting local South African suppliers.
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Technically, the platform is built to handle the chaotic nature of retail data. It utilizes custom tools to pull and standardize live product information from various retailers, smoothing out discrepancies in product names and shifting price points. Crucially, the system was designed in South Africa to be lightweight, ensuring it remains functional and reliable for users in low-bandwidth areas.
Currently in its pilot phase, We Need Milk is already looking toward its next evolution. Van den Berg confirmed that the team is working on a second phase that will link these optimized grocery plans directly to retailer checkout systems, utilizing existing fulfilment networks to streamline the path from planning to delivery.
