Jumia announces growth, increases by 94% in Second Quarter

Success Damian:

Jumia Technologies, the number one e-commerce giant in Nigeria, has reported growth, increasing by 94% in its financial results for the Second Quarter ended June 30, 2019.

The Chief Executive Officer, Jumia Nigeria, Juliet Anammah made the disclosure at a press briefing in Lagos recently.

She stated that the company would continue to deliver on its financial strategy.

“We continue to deliver on our financial strategy of generating strong growth of our topline drivers, while accelerating monetization, driving cost efficiencies and developing JumiaPay.

She further stated “During the second quarter of 2019, the company’s GMV increased by 69% year-on-year and our Gross profit grew by 94%.

Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-CEOs of Jumia commented “Our Adjusted EBITDA loss as a percentage of GMV decreased by 562 basis points (5.62 percentage points) and our Operating loss, amounting to €66.7 million, decreased as a percentage of GMV by 148 basis points (1.48 percentage points)”

“These results reflect our consumers, while providing our sellers with an attractive value proposition and a platform to grow their businesses. We remain focused on all aspects of our growth strategy, particularly JumiaPay, as we continue to drive its usage in our markets.” 

Breaking down her report Anammah spoke on Business and Financial highlights Growth momentum in topline drivers

She said GMV increased this quarter by 69% compared to the second quarter of 2018, due to a variety of factors, including strong marketplace growth and robust consumer acquisition and re-engagement momentum. The number of Active Consumers at June 30, 2019 was 4.8 million, up from 3.2 million a year ago and 4.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2019. These increases are a result of continued focus on selection, price and convenience, as the company strive to be the preferred online shopping destination for consumers in Africa for all their daily needs.

She said during the second quarter of 2019, “we continued to increase the assortment available on our platform and to engage with consumers through relevant local commercial campaigns such as our “Mobile Week” and “Ramadan” campaigns.”

Anammah also spoke on Development of JumiaPay, she disclosed that JumiaPay remained a key focus area and it is now offered in six countries - Nigeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Morocco and Kenya. “Collectively, these six countries represented a combined population of almost 440 million people in 2018, according to data from the United Nations Population Division. We have also expanded the scope of JumiaPay beyond our physical goods marketplace.

“As of December 31, 2018, JumiaPay was only available within our physical goods marketplace. It is now also available within our on-demand services, Jumia Food, and hotel booking portals, Jumia Travel, in selected countries” Anammah reported.

She added that Jumia would continued to expand the range of financial and digital services available from third parties, powered by JumiaPay, “offering our consumers an increasing range of relevant every day services. In Nigeria for instance, consumers can now access micro-loans offered by a local fintech startup, alongside event tickets offered by a local event ticketing provider.”

On Increased monetization, she said “In parallel with the strong increase in GMV and Active Consumers, Marketplace revenue increased by 90% compared to the second quarter of 2018 as we continued to drive monetization from diversified streams of revenue including Commissions, Fulfillment, Value Added Services and Marketing & Advertising services. Gross profit also grew faster than GMV, increasing by 94% compared to the second quarter of 2018, as a result of the increased monetization rate.

“We continued to drive monetization in a gradual manner, introducing attractive services to our sellers aimed at supporting the growth of their businesses. In the second quarter of 2019, we placed a particular focus on our Marketing & Advertising revenue stream by continuing to develop an attractive suite of marketing products. Marketing & Advertising revenue grew by 490% year over year and represented 8% of Marketplace revenue in the second quarter of 2019 compared to 2% of Marketplace revenue in the second quarter of 2018,” Anammah stated.

On Cost efficiencies she reported “We continued to balance strong growth with cost discipline. While delivering strong growth of our topline drivers GMV and Active Consumers, our Sales & Advertising expense as a percentage of GMV decreased by 76 basis points (“bps”), from 6.2% of GMV in the second  quarter of 2018 to 5.4% in the second quarter of 2019, reflecting the strong Jumia brand awareness and attractiveness of our platform to consumers. Adjusted EBITDA loss as a percentage of GMV improved from negative 21.4% in the second quarter of 2018 to negative 15.8% in the second quarter of 2019.