Popular e-commerce site Jumia is slowly closing shop in some of this African Markets. The latest country where Jumia will no longer be operational is Tanzania. According to Techawk, Jumia closed shop in Tanzania in order to focus operation in other markets. This cuts its reach to just 12 countries in the continent, which is not a significant share for an e-commerce business that uses big monikers like ‘the Amazon of Africa.’
In August this year, Juima we reported how the company was in serious trouble when it revealed some shocking revelations that it has suspended some staff over an $18m sales fraud. The Company was facing “several” lawsuits in New York over its IPO. Losses continue to widen to more than $70m in the second quarter alone. It’s shares down 14%.
The exist of the Tanzanian market comes a week since Jumia left the Cameroon market according to Techweez. In a statement to the press in regards to the closure of their Tanzania operations Jumia said.
Based on our review of the path to success, we have made a difficult decision to cease our operations in Tanzania as of 27th Nov 2019. While Tanzania has strong potential and we’re proud of the growth we’ve collectively seen stemming from Jumia’s adoption, we have to focus our resources on our other markets. This decision isn’t easy but will help put our focus and resources where they can bring the best value and help Jumia thrive. Jumia will continue to support buyers and vendors through our classifieds portal, previously called Jumia Deals, which will now be the main portal jumia.tz. Thousands of buyers and vendors transact through this portal and we believe it will continue to become increasingly relevant in the future.
Jumia currently has 4.8 million active customers as of the second quarter of 2019—which is an increase by 500,000 compared to the first quarter of the year. Its GMV is also up by 69% year-on-year and has increased it’s marketplace revenue (90%) and gross profit (94%). The company is working on a target of breaking even towards the end of 2022.
Founded in 2012 in Nigeria by Frenchmen Jérémy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, Jumia currently operates across now down to 12 countries from 14 countries it had early this year.
