Jumia Technologies has announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2019.
Jeremy Hodara, co-CEO of Jumia, in a statement released on Thursday said, “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.
“During the second quarter of 2019, our GMV increased by 69% year-on-year and our Gross profit grew by 94%.
“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 continued focus on offering a relevant and engaging online shopping and lifestyle destination for 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.”
Juliet Anammah, CEO, Jumia Nigeria, giving an insight on the business and financial records of the company, said that 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.
She added that the number of Active Consumers on 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.
According to her, “These increases are a result of our continued focus on selection, price and convenience, as we strive to be the preferred online shopping destination for consumers in Africa for all their daily needs.
“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”
The company further stated that they are committed to the development and scaling JumiaPay to other regions in Africa. “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.
“Lastly, we 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 everyday 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.
“In Egypt, in the second quarter of 2019, we started distributing services from a local deals provider allowing consumers to purchase their vouchers on the Jumia platform, using JumiaPay”.
The company further revealed that their marketplace revenue increased by 89.7% in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the second quarter of 2018, on the back of strong revenue growth across all components of Marketplace revenue.
“Commissions, which are charged to our sellers, grew by 91.8%. Fulfilment, which are delivery fees charged to consumers, grew by 102.6%.
“Marketing & Advertising, which include performance marketing campaigns, or the placement of banners on our platform, grew by 489.5%.
“This strong growth was driven by an acceleration in brand marketing contributions, aimed at promoting the visibility of their products on our platform.
“Value-Added Services, which include revenue from services charged to our sellers such as logistics services, packaging, or content creation, grew by 47.4%.
“First Party revenue increased by 39.2% in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the second quarter of 2018.
“We undertake our first-party activity in an opportunistic manner to complement the breadth of product assortment on our platform, usually in areas where we see unmet consumer demand.
“Shifts in the mix between first-party and marketplace activities trigger substantial variations in our Revenue as we record the full sales price net of returns as First Party revenue and only commissions and fees in the case of Marketplace revenue.
“Accordingly, we steer our operations not on the basis of our total revenue, but rather on the basis of Gross profit, as changes between third-party and first-party sales mix are largely eliminated at the Gross profit level.
“Over time, it is our goal to reduce the proportion of first-party activity in favour of third-party activity at the group level. This strategy may, however, vary from quarter to quarter and from country to country”.
