Starting from today, Jumia Rwanda will no longer be able to accept cash on delivery and can only process pre-paid orders. This comes a few days since we reported that the popular e-commerce site Jumia is slowly closing shop in some of this African Markets– the last being Tanzania. The closure of the Rwanda operations will finally take effect on January 9th 2020.
This cuts Jumia’s reach to just 11 countries on 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%.
During this period until January 9th 2020. Jumia will continue to support buyers and vendors to do business online on our classifieds portal, previously called Jumia Deals and which will now be the main portal jumia.rw – thousands of buyers and vendors get in touch every month on this portal and we believe it will continue to become more and more relevant in the future.
In a statement to the press in regards to the closure of their Rwanda operations Jumia said.
We regret to inform you that Jumia will suspend our on-demand delivery operations in Rwanda on January 9th 2020.
We thank you for your loyalty and continued trust over the years, it’s been our pleasure to serve you all. We will endeavor to ensure that orders received up until the 9th January will be processed to the high standard you have come to expect of us.
Starting December 9th 2019 we will no longer be able to accept cash on delivery and can only process pre-paid orders. No orders will be processed after 9th January 2019 at which point all customer accounts will be closed. Jumia Prime subscribers will be contacted separately regarding their refund.
Jumia will continue to support buyers and vendors to do business online on our classifieds portal, previously called Jumia Deals and which will now be the main portal jumia.rw – thousands of buyers and vendors get in touch every month on this portal and we believe it will continue to become more and more relevant in the future.
As the first on-demand e-commerce platform in Rwanda, we hope to have set the standard for customer service and hope that your experience with us has exceeded all expectations. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at cs.food.rw@jumia.com or +250788553338.
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 11 countries from 14 countries it had early this year.
